Deeply Loved:
Today I was at the Bourbon Coffee shop and I ran into my dear friend Marianne (and former GPS teammate) and she told me that she thinks that I look more beautiful each time that she sees me. hours later…I am still smiling each time that I think about what she said. However, it doesn't make me smile simply because it's nice to receive a compliment…it makes me smile because of what I think it says about me. Confused? Don't worry, I'll try to explain. In the book "cold tangerines" shauna describes a friend of hers who is getting married and she says:
"they say that some women acquire a new sense of beauty, that their lives take on a new bloom when they are deeply loved, and although my sensibilities prickle at the concept, when I see Amy now, I know that it's true."
Month two we were living in San Vicente, El Salvador and the Lord revealed to me that the next couple of months he would be teaching me a lot about love. On GPS we often referred to ourselves as the team of love because we really were like family and felt like brothers and sisters. We often sacrificed without even thinking about it because we loved each other so much. Loving was as beautiful and organic as breathing.
On my current team (strength in variance) we don't have the same team dynamic that GPS had, nevertheless, I love and know that I am loved by each member of my team. And that means just as much because it's easy to experience love when it comes naturally, but it's something really special when it's a love that you really have to fight for. And I know that each of the girls on my team would fight for me.
I also know that I have family and friends back in the states who love me deeply. People who love me in spite of all my strange quirks and habits. People who don't complain when I listen to the same k pop songs on repeat seventy-five times a day.
And in addition to my current and former teammates, I also know that I am loved by each member of my squad. After traveling around the world for almost 10 months, I still have to remind myself of how fortunate I am to have the friends and family that surround me both on the race and at home. However, not only do I have earthly family and friends who love me deeply but I also have a heavenly father that loves me with an everlasting love. A father that reveals his love more and more with each passing day. Through words, people, chirping birds, African smiles, his word, and through ways more numerous than the stars. And you may not realize it…but I'm certain that you have each of these too.
And when I think about all of this, how can I not think but that I am deeply loved
