God loves me unconditionally…. Did you know that?
I thought I did, but the Holy Spirit did what he usually does and convicts you. I came into Thailand knowing in my mind that God loves me, but not in my soul…
This revelation shocked me. It’s such a simple truth, but it wasn’t an easy truth for my heart to grasp onto. Throughout the past 2 (or 3??? I’ve lost track at this point) weeks, God has kept on chasing after me, revealing his wondrous and AWEsome love for me in soooo many ways.
This blog post is devoted to some of those special moments–both big and small–when my Father and the Creator of the Universe revealed his love for me and this broken world.
During devotions one morning, God planted a small, but firm thought in my mind-
Bring me into every part of your life- including logistics, sleep, teaching, team time, worship, showering, sleeping, everything…. I want to be a part of it all.
I love you.
God cares about every aspect of my life. Even the small, seemingly insignificant things like I hurt myself falling, I finally remembered a Thai friend’s name, or even taking a good restful nap… he cares about it ALL. If you really do love someone, then you can agree with me when I say that you care about both the slow, boring moments and the ones that are more exciting. You care about the person, so you genuinely care about their well-being.
As I was sitting there early in the morning doing my devos, the room overcrowded with no AC, I started to let the first wall of my heart be knocked down by God.
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A passage from the bible that has become my anthem this past week:
Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
…God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:12-13)
I encourage anyone reading this to take a moment—hit pause on whatever you’re doing—and let the Holy Spirit speak to you through this simply beautiful passage.
Don’t worry, I can wait… In fact, I’ll say a prayer right now that God would speak to you of his love for you.
God I ask that you would enable whoever is reading this to take a moment and sit in silence with you… hit the pause on their life. Pursue them. Open their hearts, break down the walls, and burst open the floodgates so that your love will pour through and cover every inch of who they are. Thank you. In Jesus’ name amen.
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Every time I see a butterfly, I feel God gently nudge my spirit, reminding me of his love. So if you see me randomly smile as a small butterfly flits by, know that I’m thinking of His love. God’s love for me is so simply beautiful!
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Noelle, a teammate of mine, came up to me the other day and told me about a vision she had of me during one of our squad’s early morning devotions:
You were holding onto a bar, dangling over a pit. You were in danger of falling into it. God’s hands were clasped over yours, keeping you from falling. He said, “Regan hold on.”
Now being completely honest, my man the Holy Spirit hasn’t fully revealed what this vision means. However, I do know I felt completely floored by God speaking through fellow believers to me about how much he loves me… God’s love for me is a fierce and strong love; He fights for me, and His strength is what keeps me from falling.
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Our second Sunday being here, me and some of my squadmates walked a few minutes away to a Thai Christian church held in a hotel conference room. The first feeling I had walking in was the relief, peace, and utter joy at being surrounded by fellow believers in Christ. I was home.
Worship was sung in both Thai and English. Like every single time I have fully worshipped God, his presence quickly overcame every part of my being… with arms stretched as high as I could, I shouted at the top of my lungs. The song lyrics were something along the lines of “He keeps running after me, chasing after me, over and over again” or something like that. All of a sudden, my heart was softened and for the first time I was fully able to grasp how AMAZING and AWESOME those lyrics are!!! As I sat there, soul wide open and laid before God, The Holy Spirit brought mind low point after low point of my life… this time, the HS revealed every beautiful way in which God had been present with me as I had struggled in the darkness.
With this stunning revelation, I fell down onto my chair, bowed my head, and worshipped my God with hands out and tears streaming down my face. My God’s love chases after me through every situation. No darkness is too dark for my God’s love and light to penetrate!!!
Love,
Regan
