He Loves us!

This is the anthem of one of my favorite songs in this season of my life.  Kim Walker captures exactly what my heart feels.

So often I think that we go about our daily business and fail to realize or comprehend how much our Heavenly Father loves us.  As I go from Africa to America I see people in both places who so desperately need to hear that their Father loves them.  If we could grasp how high, wide, and deep His love for us is we could solve a lot of the world’s problems.

Sometimes His love for us is so obvious that it brings me to my knees.  Yesterday I had one of the most hellacious travel days in the history of travel days; and that was just getting from Columbus to JFK.  That was before 30 hours of travel started. 

When I was finally on board headed to Amsterdam I couldn’t help but to cry.  The kind of cry that makes the passengers around me notice.  I have left home countless number of times, but for some reason it took all my willpower to get on the plane in Columbus.  (In fact, they were offering a $400 voucher for people willing to bump flights and I was VERY tempted.)  I woke up sick yesterday morning and that combined with a lot of other factors led me to just be tired.  Tired of flights, tired of layovers, tired of jetlag and tired of culture shock. 

As I sat and tried to compose myself huddled in the corner of the window seat I begged God for an encounter.  I begged him to make His presence tangible, real, and loving.  I begged him for an angel to come and minister to me and love on me. 

I woke up in Amsterdam and stumbled down the walkway trying to orient myself to whichever time zone I had woken up to.  I quickly checked my email and lo and behold he was sending an angel!

I had briefly “chatted” online with a friend of Sean’s a few weeks back.  Gepke was a friend and sister in the Lord he had met in Lakeland and continued to work with in Colorado.  She had finished her time in CO and was conveniently living in Amsterdam.  Sean had told her I was laying over for a while (9hours!) in Amsterdam and she emailed me with a plan to see the city! 

I all but ran through immigration and met her at the train station.  Little did either of us realize what a gift from God our time would be.  She took me downtown and through the infamous Red Light district and we grabbed a warm drink at a fabulous Christian coffee shop.  On the outside it was a few hours with a new friend, but to my spirit it was God’s tangible way of saying “I LOVE YOU.”  It was the answer to the cry of my heart and a refreshment that can’t be put to words.

God wants to love all of us this way.  In tangible, real encounters with us.  Have you cried out to Him for an encounter lately?  Have you looked for Him in the small ways that He loves you every day?

Thank you Jesus for loving me today.  Thank you for being the healing salve on my broken heart and sending an angel just for me.  I love you too!