"You Love Me Anyway"

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)

James 5:7-9. “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. Don't grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!”

Psalm 27:14 Wait for the Lord; Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.

These are three of the bible verses that came to mind this morning at 4am when our dog Molly could not sleep. Lately, she has been waking up every morning really early. Fortunately for me I sleep like a rock. Literally, Scott has to shake me to get me up some mornings. Well, I was woken up by Scott busting in the room this morning, slamming the door, and yelling that Molly was going to the pound:) Haha! It takes a lot to get him rattled so I knew Molly must have made him pretty mad! I slowly got out of bed and moved to the couch so Molly could lay next to me out in the living room. Well...that did not go as planned. For some reason she wanted to play fetch for 2 hours. Now she is laying next to me sleeping very peacefully while I sit here and write because now I can't sleep. Oh the life of a dog!

So I reflected on a worship song this morning while playing fetch. It is called You Love Me Anyway. This is such a refreshing truth for me that no matter what God loves me. It doesn't matter how many times I doubt his ability or stomp my feet because he didn't give me what I wanted the second I prayed for it. He loves me unconditionally. He died for all my sins, was persecuted, was nailed to the cross & still he has a greater love for me than I can even imagine. Isn't that the best feeling knowing that he loves you for you? You don't have to prove anything to him. All you have to do is trust him with your life!!

I am an extreme people pleaser. I always make sure everyone else in the room is happy before I even begin to worry about me. I guess you could say it is definitely not a good quality to have. I used to stress all the time about what people were thinking of me. This kind of quality can definitely run you into the ground. After the miscarriage, I realized real fast that the only person that I really NEED is God. Like I have said before, I dealt with the miscarriage in a way that most people did not expect. I pulled away from everyone and everything except God. There were so many nights and early mornings I just sat still with God. He was the only person I wanted comfort from at the time. In some ways that was the best thing that could ever have happened to me because for once in my life I made MYSELF matter and I focused on the one thing I NEEDED most & that was God. The normal ME would have made sure everyone else was okay with the loss of the baby and then a few months later I would have dealt with my heart. For some reason though, God gave me the ability to shut down from everyone and I am so thankful for that.

I encourage you to really reflect on this song and verses. Know that God loves you so much. Even when no one else in the world understands or gets what you are going through...He does and he is in total control. There is nothing he can not handle.