Oh, How He Loves Us

God moving people, moves me. How powerful is the love of God, and oh, how it moves me.

On Sunday, I sat in front of a young woman who was absolutely moved by the love of God. Oddly enough, I don't even know her very well, just having casual conversations here and there on the days I was in town.  It was her first Sunday after major surgery to remove cancer. As I stated above, I do not know her very well, so I won't attempt to pretend I can tell her story or know even know how to express her struggle. Sunday morning, however,  the sound of her relishing in the love of God was undeniably moving. I was brought to tears as I listened to her beautiful voice cry out.

It's a mystery how the love of God can bring so many mixed emotions at the same time. I found that while my tears of joy and thankfulness for this young woman were overwhelming, my tears were also somewhat of sadness for the loss of a good friend that was in the same battle.  How great is the love of God that it is big enough and deep enough and wide enough to encompass His people. I am so thankful for the vision of His love from both people - one in life and one in death. Oh, how he loves us.

How He Loves Us by David Crowder Band
He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don't have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way...

He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.


* The words and music to this song are amazing. You should listen to it here.

So many times, parts are added up to just be parts.

Have you ever read a book when you already know the ending? It's sort of a hazard of the job for me.  Maybe not a hazard.  Just something that goes with the job. Hazards makes it seem bad. It's actually the opposite.  I rather enjoy rereading books and stories.  The ending of books or stories has been on my mind recently, specifically with the story of Jesus. One thing that strikes me about the story of Jesus is that I'm supposed to know it. I mean, it's a story I've been reading all my life. At least, I've been reading the same parts all my life. Bits and pieces. Over and over again. Not only do I read the story, but different people read it to me. Bits and pieces. Over and over again. I study it; I listen to other people talk about the pieces they have studied.  I talk about the story with other people who know about the story, too. Bits and pieces. Over and over again. It's a story we know the ending to. At least I know part of the ending.

"A painting is more than the sum of its parts." This is a quote from one of my favorite young adult books. The father in the story says this to his daughter, Juli, to help her understand the value of seeing who people really are by looking deeper.  He is, obviously, a painter. He goes on to explain that a cow by itself is just a cow, and the meadow by itself is just grass and flowers, and the sun peeking through the trees is just a beam of light, but put them all together and you have magic.

I want magic.

Bits and pieces. Over and over again. I feel like I have stared at, studied and talked about, poured into, and struggled to only see a beam of light or a meadow all my life. I've seen the parts, and I've added them together. I knew that I wasn't seeing the whole painting, but I couldn't figure out how to express what I was missing.

Back to the ending thing. I think the ending has to do with the way you view the parts. If the parts are just added up as parts, it only yields parts. Confusing? Maybe. I don't want part of the ending.

I want magic.

 

"Aaron" painting

I went to visit Aaron (Mark and Diane) this weekend. The original purpose of my visit was to be "child care" while Mark and Diane went out for their Valentine's Day dinner/surprise concert. As soon as Aaron found out I was coming, he asked me if we could paint. OF COURSE! I immediately started scouting out Pinterest to find some cute ideas. We had SO MUCH FUN! Aaron decided that we should hang his painting on his bedroom door so everyone knows it's his room. :-)

Enjoy.