"Jesus Loves Me... This I Know."

When I was a kid, I thought that knowing this song by heart was a requisite for being a Christian. Forget stepping in front of a church full of people and having some strange man dunk you under water. If you wanted to be in "The Club," you had to know this song. Of course, I didn't really understand what it meant... what 4-year-old does? It had a catchy tune and it was easy to remember, that's pretty much all you need at that age. But, unfortunately, we can't use that excuse at 34... or 44, or whatever your age is. If you're over the age of 18 (and even that's an arbitrary number), you're on the hook! Chan uses this song as an example of understanding God's love for him. He states:

"If you've spent any time in church, you've heard expressed, in some form or another, the idea that God loves us. I believed this for years because, as the song puts it, 'the Bible tells us so.' The only problem is that it was a concept I was taught, not something I implicitly know to be true. For years I 'got' God's love in my head, checked the right answer on the 'what God is like' test, but didn't fully understand it with my heart." p. 53

I touched on this in my last entry. Several of you emailed and asked if I could give you an example of "knowing" God's love for me and "feeling" his love for me. I've thought a lot about it today and I'm not sure if this is a fair comparison, but it's all have at the moment: When I think about love, I can't help but think about my husband. I "know" my husband loves me. He tells me he loves me... but simply saying the words "I love you" is not enough to bridge the gap between "knowing" and "feeling." I "feel" his love when he takes a moment out of his day to check in on me, or when he simply gives me a hug... just because.

Yesterday, at the most obscure time, I had this overwhelming sense of God's love. It's unexplainable to me... except for the fact that I'm pretty sure many of you have been praying for me to experience His love ever since my last post... and I am eternally grateful! I was cleaning out the dishwasher and for the briefest of moments... I felt it. Indescribable...but undeniable. What a HUGE step!

THE PUSH

Over the next week, we will be looking at what Chan believes to be our greatest obstacles in accepting and understanding God's love for us. I'll warn you now that some of it might be a little difficult. It was for me the first time I read through it. Spend the next day asking God to prepare your heart for the journey you're about to take. We have to break down some walls before we can make any strides.

His Faithful Servant~

Deirdre