Does Your Heart Know that You were Made for Love?

LoveLetter December 2021

Hello Friends,

I am praying for you today, that you are entering this holiday season full of hope and that the Lord will give you a rested, refreshed heart! If you don’t feel so fresh, ask God to refresh you. Even if your to-do list is a mile long, take a short rest, sit still, and ask Him to come and refresh your heart.

Did you know that you were made for love? God’s love. His presence is tangible, His amazing love is very near and present, always waiting for us, and He is ready at a moment’s notice to come and sit with us in our weariness, and to lavish His love…. Just say the word.

The Most Important Thing

As believers we have such a strong, steady hope because no matter what things look like around us, the Most Important Thing remains the Most Important Thing. Because we are made for love, we are loved beyond comprehension, and that Love sent Jesus to us as a baby, bringing us light and hope, even before we knew how desperately we would need Him. He knew, and He came for us! The love of Jesus—the reality of what He did for us—means we are filled up and made rich every day because we know Him, and He offers the promise of an unimaginably beautiful future to every heart that will accept His love. 

News On The Homefront

We are low-key over here for the holidays… finished our kitchen renovations and now just enjoying them. Some things that I’ve noticed with a new kitchen…We had a catch-all desk in the old kitchen that would pile up with junk mail and books, odds and ends, toys, pens, candy, tools…it always looked like a tornado had hit it—we tore that desk out, thankfully. Now all that stuff can pile up on our new breakfast bar instead. Ha! Before renovations, I used to walk into the kitchen and not feel like making dinner at all. Now that I have this beautiful, bright new space to cook in, I feel the exact same way.

Seriously though, it is a huge blessing to have lots of space and light and a pretty, peaceful atmosphere in our kitchen now to boot. I’m enjoying it.

We are looking forward to using our fire pit this week since the weather is turning a little Christmas-y here. The kids even wore coats to school today! I love Florida winters—a semblance of “cold” without the actual freezing-cold-that-makes-your-face-hurt cold. None of that going on down here.

Word of Encouragement

To Know that We are Made for Love

As I pray today for the word of encouragement that the Lord wants to speak to us, Holy Spirit brings to my mind something close to my heart. To know that we are loved, to learn how to fully receive that love, which maybe takes a lifetime, and as we are learning to live in the fullness of knowing we are loved, that it produces an overflow of love in us.

I was feeling pressured one day recently (pressure coming from myself only) to sit down and write something—to produce something. And as I sat and just started talking to God, He dropped this into my spirit: Being loved is what I was made for. I was made for love. God’s reason and purpose for creating me was so that He could love me for eternity. Period. With an infinitely big “guy-normpus” love. (That’s Ezra’s awesome word) 

He Didn’t Make Us for Performance

He didn’t make me because He needed someone to do things for Him, or to perform, or accomplish things. He didn’t create me so I would become really good at something, or because He knew I would help a lot of people, or that I would be super smart or creative, or that I would do a lot of good and make the world a better place. He created me so that He could LOVE me. And He wants me to love Him too. We are made to be in a much greater love-exchange with God than we know. 

Bringing that truth from my mind, down into believing it, knowing it with my heart—this is the challenge for me. Of course God loves me—look what He did for me! Everybody knows that. But if my actions, my anxious thoughts, or my feeling compelled to ‘produce’ something, reveal to me that my heart isn’t completely believing that, then there is something to consider.

Prayer

That day, I prayed—Lord, I want to receive Your love. Help me to receive Your love. Because there is no shortage of love extended to us from His end. We are the ones who live like we need to earn our keep. 

Can I Still Love Myself on My Worst Day?

And we might even feel like we have a pretty good handle on knowing we are loved and valuable to God. But what about to myself? How do I feel about myself on days when I get nothing done? Do I feel “ok” even when I didn’t produce anything, I didn’t better myself in any way, I didn’t do anything for someone else, and I successfully avoided making any kind of visible improvement to the mess of everything-under-the-sun that is strewn across nearly every floor in my house? (Except the kitchen floor, because that stuff definitely gets picked up and set carefully on the breakfast bar!) Do I still love and value myself even on the worst of those kinds of days? 

Love Is the Most Important Thing

Jesus said that Love — love for God, and love for others — was the greatest commandment. He said that because Love is the Most Important Thing. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God loved us so much, He gave us Jesus. That’s the Most Important Thing. 

Keeping that in focus, especially right now, around holidays, amidst grief or anxiety, in light of all the obligations we face, feeling overwhelmed, feeling pulled on, or whatever else we are facing, can bring us back to that rest in the love and presence of the Lord, that tangible way He shows up and puts his arms around us. Sit with Him, close your eyes, invite Him to love you right where you are, and ask Him to help you receive His Love. 

Prayer Requests

I would love to hear from you. Please send me any thoughts or prayer requests you would like me to pray for. I know this can be a tough time of year for many, and my heart goes out to you if that is you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out. The Holy Spirit has been laying people on my heart a lot lately, and I’d love to lift you up specifically to the Lord today in prayer.  
 

Heart Matters

1. If this is a hard or painful time of year for you (for whatever reason) God wants to make His love tangible to you, especially now. I would encourage you to take time to sit with the Lord and ask Him to sit there with you. Ask Him to help you put words to your emotions. Then write about how you are feeling, why this season is hard. Invite Jesus into the situation(s) or memories that are painful. Let His Spirit bring you tears, cleansing, comfort, and words that will minister to your heart.

2. Thinking about God’s Love… What are ways God has shown you that He loves and cares about you personally, what are some examples of ways that He has demonstrated His love for you? Can you think of a certain time(s) when you felt deeply loved by God?

3. Do you struggle with feeling like you need to accomplish, produce, do something useful, do a good deed, etc. just to feel “ok” each day? If so, write about your go-to version of this, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you discover possible reasons for this as you write.

4. Pray and thank God for loving you just as you are in this moment, and then sit still in that love. Think about this statement: I was made to be loved by God, and to love Him.

Romans 8:38-39 

[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (from Romans 8:38-39)

Love,

Chalis