Falling in Love with God

Day 6 of the Month of Love -- Falling in Love with God
A service technician was at my home a few days ago and in conversation, I invited him to my church. His response was "Oh, no thank you, Mam. Don't get me wrong -- I believe in God -- I just don't go to church." Our conversation moved to his telling me about his 7-year old son and how much he loves him, and how much his son loves him. He showed me a tattoo on his arm that had his son's name engraved on it. He said he explained to his son "I love you so much that I put your name on my arm. You are always on my mind." You know where I'm going with this. I was able to talk a little more about God's love for him and how God even has his name written in the palm of His hand. I'm believing that I planted some little seeds in his life -- and God will woo him to Himself.

The greatest commandment is this: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind" (Matthew 22:37). So simple, so important, so transforming. This is the one thing God most desires. I’m so grateful that God loves us and that He keeps working on us. Maybe it was part of God's plan for that technician to come to my house so that this little lady could be "a laborer in his pathway". (Matthew 9:37,38)

How DO we go from "believing in God" to REALLY falling in love with Him?

Here's how my love for God grows......
1) I think about Him. For me, loving God is one of the easiest things to do because, after all, everywhere we look -- He is there. The more I think about Him, acknowledge His presence in my life, recognize Him in EVERYTHING -- people, nature, circumstances, etc., the more deeply I fall in love with Him. I think about how amazing He is as Creator, how selfless He is as a Savior. I think about how good He is to me. I think about specific blessings He has given me and all He has saved me from. I contemplate how incredible it is that the God of the universe cares about me.

2) I tell Him I love Him. When I tell God I love Him, I find the words are very true. It's even more powerful when I tell him why I love Him.

3) I spend time in His presence. No relationship can grow without time spent together. The same is true with our relationship with God. When I determined to set aside specific time for prayer, my love for Him started increasing. I also listen to music that helps to focus my attention on Him and helps me worship and love Him more. (I wrote about this in my posts over the last couple of days.)

4) I endeavor to do everything out of love for Him. From my church ministry, Life Group, volunteering, to my everyday tasks and chores, my motives make all the difference. When I choose to do a task out of love for God, my love for Him grows. It’s a mental task of consciously giving the activity to God as an offering. Maybe this is part of what He means by when He says, “Love God with all your mind.”

We can all work at loving God more. I know I’m still living out my faith journey, but I'm on assignment to urge others (like my service technician) to fall in love with God, too. It’s one of the most important trademarks of a Christian -- to help others learn to love Him with all their hearts. And the best way to teach others is to model OUR love for God.

To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances.
To seek Him is the greatest of all adventures.
To find Him is the greatest of all achievements.

It's Worth the Investment

Day 51 of Photo Inspirations – It's Worth the Investment!!
TBT – Throw Back Thursday – Like any “Stage” Mom, I was always on the lookout for any and every contest I could get my girl in.  I got “wind” of the Mrs. North Carolina Pageant and thought “Why not, my Girl?”   So, unbeknownst to her, I filled out an application and sent it in. Oops!  I really did mean to tell her….. eventually…..that is if her application was accepted.  LOL!

So, you can imagine her surprise when the call came from the Mrs. North Carolina Organization telling her she was accepted!  Now they wanted to interview her. Staci told them she had no idea what they were talking about. That’s when she realized her Mother must be up to something …….again.

Honestly, this was nothing new to her Daddy OR me.  We cultivated the talents of our little girl since she was two years old.    We knew we had a responsibility to express our thanksgiving for her by how we helped develop her God-given gifts.  We had her singing in every door that opened for her.  No matter what it was, we urged her to go for it.  I look back on those days and am amazed at all the places and achievements God blessed upon her – from winning many talent contests to singing on TV shows, in churches, musical theatre stages, to being asked to sing for the Olympics, regularly singing with a 24-piece orchestra, winning a $6,000 Talent Award at the Miss Canada Pageant (She was Miss Winnipeg, Manitoba) to her singing with presidents, motivational speakers and high profile athletes and entertainers.   This girl was BORN to use her talents on a platform that glorifies God.

When they moved to North Carolina, she was a mom of two little cuties and took a sabbatical from her singing and speaking career.  So… of course it was my duty to light a fire under the girl again.  I figured the Mrs. North Carolina Pageant would be the perfect opportunity – besides there were prizes to be won.

Initially, she didn’t take to the idea very well, but after she and Larry talked and prayed about it, they knew this was an opportunity for her to impact women with the importance of realizing their God-given destiny and purpose.  And, as many of you know….when this girl takes on a project…..she is relentless in her pursuit of reaching her goals.  She worked so hard to get her body toned and ready for the pageant.  I watched her self-discipline in achieving the goal as she lost the 13% body fat from having her babies and became an inspiration in health for us all.  What a blessing it was for us to watch as she was crowned Mrs. North Carolina with family and friends cheering her on.  It was a time to remember – and that’s what I’m doing today.

In the Mrs. America Pageant, she came in 4th Runner Up (I still think the judges were off-their-rockers to not have given her the crown– LOL!)   But when she arrived at the pageant, she said, “I don’t think I’m here to win a crown but to carry HIS crown of righteousness to these other ladies.”   And she did.  The greatest reward that week was that she led the woman who won Mrs. America, and eventually Mrs. World, to accept Jesus Christ as her personal Savior.   Five other women gave their life to the Lord at her prayer breakfast the day of the pageant.

THE THING wasn’t THE THING.  The pageant crown wasn't the prize.  I love how God works – He makes us think we’re on course for the best plan….but all along He has the MASTER PLAN in place.  And, as for those of you who ask “How did you get such motivated, outgoing, over-achieving children?”  We have always believed they were God’s gift to us –  we saw raising them as a role of stewardship.  We never had a  “wait and see” mentality over their talents but we understood that they were our most valuable assets and worthy of our most precious investment of time – a lot in time, support, and belief that they would be ALL God destined them to be.