Love notes to God
My husband Stephen moved to Madagascar in January 2012 while we were dating. While I knew the future held a deeper relationship for us, I knew I had to let him go to Africa. He was moving with only a couple of 50 pound suitcases, so there was no room for extravagant gifts from me. I had prayed about what to do for him that would show him my love and ended up writing to him 21 cards. They say it takes 21 days to break a habit or for a new habit to form and I said I wanted to be a habit he didn’t have to break (insert cheesy ‘awww’ here). Some were funny and witty while others contained sentimental memories and scriptures of encouragement.
These notes were a source of strength to him in his first few weeks living in a new country and culture while being separated by thousands of miles from me. In the months that followed, I went and visited him in Africa where he proposed to me on the Equator on safari in Kenya (he did REALLY well!). Then the following week brought us to the island of Madagascar, his new home and a place where we’d once again say goodbye. It was at this time I left him with 22 notes that were shaped in hearts and sealed with either a plastic sticker in the form of a lock or a key. When Stephen came to the States later that summer for a couple of weeks, he brought a journal for me that he’d written in since my departure and left it for me to read until he returned for our wedding. These note exchanges along with hundreds of emails and our sometimes successful Skype calls carried us through our separation.
In thinking about these “Love notes”, it made me think about how good God’s love is and the numerous excellent ways that He displays His love for us. He’s written His heart in His word and left us with those notes to guide and instruct us while we’re separated physically from Him. This week I want to write about how to extract these three areas from God’s Word; 1. Love Notes to God 2. Love Notes to Us from God 3. Love Notes to Others. These entires will be more of a practical challenge for you to implement in quiet time, journals, or in blogs of your own!
My scripture for the week is Matthew 22:37-39 “Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus was asked by some religious people what was the most important commandment. This was his reply in which he over emphasized that all of the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments. He was stating that as we love God fully, we will love ourselves rightly which will allow us to love others purely.
So today I’d like for us to explore loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. Right away I can see that there is no other logical room for anything else. If we are passionate about Him and seeking Him fully, this leaves no room for our love to weaken and be distorted. How do we do this when our hearts often wander and get distracted? I’ve proposed some simple yet not all encompassing things we can do.
Read the Psalms
The Psalms are full of praises and admiration of God and His character. Through desperate times and in trying situations, the book of Psalms offers us insight of how to turn to God in our distress, our joy and our questioning. These scriptures are excellent for us to use as our own prayers at times, which brings me to number 2.
Pray out loud
Begin to praise God out loud. This opens the gates of His presence in your life. This can look like extended times by yourself while reading His word. Other times can include the hustle and bustle of your job and caring for your children while walking into a store, driving in the car, those quick bathroom breaks (God is probably the only person who appreciates sharing this moment with us ;-) )or as we’re waking up or falling asleep. As you begin to practice prayer as it relates to thanking the Father, worshipping the Son, and welcoming the Holy Spirit, you’ll find how easily prayer flows into all parts of your day.
Write down your words
There’s a great principle connected to writing down your thoughts of praise and trust in God and His word. When you implement setting truth before you like posting it on your mirrors, fridge, or set it as a screen saver on your phone, you continually keep it before your sight. God continually says through the Bible to set His word before you, to fix your eyes on His promises. As you see these reminders throughout your day, you will be equipped to overcome lies of the enemy and praise God for His goodness.
My challenge for you today and through Tuesday is to meditate on the goodness of God. Pull out your Bible (or get your bible app out) and find 3 truths of His goodness. Write them down and post them in a place you can see them. Pray these 3 scriptures out loud saying ,” God I thank You that You are good…” etc. I trust that as you uncover more of His goodness, you’ll begin to pour out love on Him.
Wednesday we’ll discuss God’s love notes to us!