"There is no one on the face of this earth who can love me the way God loves me, who can love me more than God." God revealed this many years ago at the end of a relationship I was in. God's love is safe, secure, fulfilling. Yet, we crave the love of a man, a woman, a family member, a friend. We believe that if that person or persons would just love us we would be complete, whole, happy. But here's the thing: man's love can be fickle, it can fluctuate. We feel love one minute and feel hate the next. Sometimes, our love is based on what the person does, who they are, what they can do for us. In short, our love is conditional: I'll love you if you love me; I'll stop loving you, if you stop loving me.
       God's love, however, doesn't carry conditions. He just loves us in spite of. He did sacrifice His Son's life for us, even though He knew beforehand many would never accept Him, would never accept His gift of salvation. Most of us would count the cost before making such a sacrifice and would choose NOT to go through with it, but NOT God. He knew who would choose His gift and who would not and yet, He still made the sacrifice and showed us what true love really is, what it looks like. We've heard the expression: looking for love in the wrong place. All of us have looked for love in the wrong place . . . in another imperfect human being who was looking for true love himself, who even hurt us a times, or many times.
       Only God can love us the way we need and as His love flows through us we are able to love as we should. It's a love that strengthens us, secures us, makes us feel safe, gives us confidence because we don't have to hide our faults for fear of rejection; we don't have to pretend to be someone we're not just to be loved and accepted. It's a love that heals and cleanses, that enables us to take the lid off and expose who we really are so that the healing, deliverance, salvation can begin to take place. It's a love that helps us to let go and to trust that God is big enough, loving; that He has enough love, enough love, enough love...!!! That His love is so strong it won't break under the pressure and weight of our sin and imperfection; that it would heal us, cleanse us, forgive us, sustain us, keep us and love us in a way that NO ONE or nothing can. And with and in this love we are indeed complete . . . and free!

           "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8: 38-39
           

       During the vacation I took my children to see"Zootopia." I thought it was going to be another cartoon I would have to labor through for their sake but I actually enjoyed it. As i went through my prayer time with God many hours later and different thoughts traversed my mind, I recalled one of the characters in that movie - the assistant mayor. She felt for a long time underappreciated and invisible. She wanted so badly to be acknowledged and appreciated for her hard work.  Unfortunately, behind her seemingly sweet exterior, lay a very disturbed and dangerous character.
       But how could this be? It was simple. She had allowed a root of bitterness to grow to the point where she would do anything to destroy others. Sounds sinister for a children's cartoon but sadly that's also real life and is a reflection of the world we live in. Hebrews 12:15 says: "Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many" (NLT). Hurt and disappointment, if unchecked, can lead to bitterness. Forgiveness is so important! We nurse grudges over past hurts and feet justified in our bitterness. Unfortunately, this "root" is poisonous enough to destroy our relationships and even lives. Jealously, envy, dissension and immorality step in. We are consumed with hatred and bitterness and are inevitably unhappy. However, when we first acknowledge our bitterness and second give it to God He is able to remove it and to clean up all the mess made because of it. He heals the hurts, enables us to forgive and brings restoration to our lives. We don't have to do it on our own, that's what God is there for - to help clean up the messes we make and turn them into testimonies that can uplift and encourage lives.