To Your Embrace

I love hugs. I definitely wasn't always a hugger but I am for sure becoming one! There are some people that have really been bringing this out of me this year. I mean I literally run to hug some people now, which I kind of don’t how that escalated in my life so quickly! But today I just had this great excitement at the thought of the joy of what it will be like to one day be hugged by my Father. I was in church singing, and we came to this point in the words:

Oh, I’m running to Your arms

I’m running to Your arms

The riches of Your love

Will always be enough

Nothing compares to Your embrace

Maybe it’s a long ways off, but like the days when I would wait for my father to come home in great excitement, I can’t wait for the day when I will finally come home, and find myself wrapped in the arms of my heavenly Dad! But just like there was much to do as I waited for my dad as a kid (set up every game in the house so that we could play whichever one he picked as soon as he got home, or find a great hiding spot to jump out of when he walked in) my waiting will not be idle. God’s still doing a lot in my life before I am able to come home, but it was for sure nice to get a future glimpse of a beautiful moment with Him!!

Compelled by Love

I love great quotes!! I have been reading through this amazing book called, The Barbarian Way, and I just came across this part that fits so perfectly with what is driving this blog, that I had to share.

   "Anyone who chooses the barbarian way will learn quickly that love and sacrifice cannot be separated. This is perhaps why so many of us who know love fear love. We know that love is not the absence of pain. If anything, love is the promise of pain. No one has loved more deeply than God. Has everyone ever been more betrayed? God would not know suffering if He did not know love. But because He is Love, He chose to suffer on our behalf. Without love there is no glory in suffering.
   The suffering of Christ glorifies God because it elevates love. Compelled by love, God would go where He knew suffering was certain. Love always moves to sacrifice, which is exactly where He calls us to go. We shouldn't be surprised , then, that to follow Christ is to abandon luxury of safety and security. If we are to be like Him, WE MUST ALWAYS RISK FOR LOVE." (I added the all caps!)

Loving fearlessly is both recognizing the pain and sacrifice that one may very well encounter by such fearless acts, but also that because of Him, it is worth it! It is both following His lead, but also realizing that His love for us is enough, and that having that far out weighs any pain we may go through to as we pursue a life fully lived for Him. His love and presence in our life drives out fear, and empowers us to take on risks in our pursuit towards loving like Him.