My All

The Lord has recently been teaching me so much about His heart and His desire for me through Mark 12:30, " Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."

 I wanted to share a couple paragraphs that stuck out to me from Misty Edwards book "What Is the Point?: Discovering life's deeper meaning and purpose."

"The reason Jesus asks us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength is because that is how He loves us.  Paul wrote that God's love is beyond our ability to fully comprehend without the Holy Spirit's help and the time span of eternity to discover more and more of it (Eph. 3:18-19) We cannot comprehend the vast ocean of God's love, but when we see His high demand for "all," we see He is not asking anything from us He Himself does not give.  We are equally yoked to Jesus not by the size of our love but by the all of our love.  Though our all is small, it is still our all.  The Lord values our commitment to continually grow in love.  The reach of our heart to love Him moves Him.  If we do not quit, then we win.  
We come to the place where we no longer find our identity in our failure but in the fact that God loves us, in the gift of righteousness (2 Cor. 5:17), and in the cry of our spirit to love God.  Our weak attempts move Him, and this is when life becomes meaningful and dynamic.  The purpose of life is to love Him with our all and to be loved by Him.  As we are seeing, this is no small task, but it is a life-consuming journey that affects everything about us.  We have been given this dignity called the free will.  This free will enables us to choose, and when we choose to give Jesus what He wants, it moves Him deeply.  The fact that we can move God gives our lives more meaning and more purpose than anything."

I'm not looking at them, I'm looking at you.

A sweet friend of mine sent me this song a few days ago:
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sdq8sCWlKI).  After listening to it on repeat and letting the words and the truth in this song saturate my heart and mind, I decided to type out the lyrics and share some of them.  These are truths that the Lord speaks over us all of the time but I am often too busy, worried, scared, distracted, etc. to slow down and listen for the Lord to speak these sweet words over me.  Words that bring life and calm my soul.  A reminder that my relationship with my Beloved is unique.  When I am spending time with Him, I am all that matters (and when you spend time with Him, you are all that matters to Him too.) He loves me and is proud of me even in my weakness.  Even in my struggle.  Even when I feel like I am just a seed, He reminds me that He is building me to be a strong tree planted along streams of living water, a tree whose roots go down deep.  Honestly, I often have a hard time believing that my weak love can overwhelm the Lord.  I long for the day when I can truly experience the reality of that and can see that the King is enthralled with my beauty (psalm 45:11). 

Do you know the way you move me?

Not really, but I want to believe.  I’m still growing.

Do you know the way you move me?

Father, I am just a seed not yet a tree, do You still love me?

I love your weak love, I love your reach.

O father, I’m still a seed not yet a tree, do You want me this way?

Keep on reaching keep on trying, keep on looking, it moves Me.

But I struggle to love, struggle to pray, struggle to stay another day, God.

But I love you in the struggle, I’m so proud of you.

What about the days that I am bored and that I’m tired and feeling nothing, God.

 I am so proud of you don’t believe the accuser, I’m so proud of you. 

But compared to the rest, I am the weakest one, God.

I’m not looking at them, I'm looking at you.

Are you really? Are You really proud? Do you, do You really love me God?

What your father couldn’t see, I see.  I’m so proud of you, I’m so proud of you.

But I’m still a seed not yet a tree, I’m still growing.

When you didn’t have a father, I was your father, Im so proud of you.

But I’m just a seed not yet a tree, barely growing,

But I love the way you look at me, I love the way you keep choosing to die.

But I’m just a seed not yet a tree, still maturing slowly.

But few have chosen this narrow way and you have, I’m so proud of you.

Are you really proud of me?

I am proud of you

Do you really love me?

I love you, I’m so proud of you.

Do you really want me?

I want you.

Do you really see me?

 I really see you.

I’m just a seed not yet a tree

I love you the way you’re growing, you’re leaning, your loving, your learning, it’s not as small as it seems.

Trying to believe, help my unbelief

Few are the ones who are choosing this narrow way.

Trying to believe, help my unbelief.

I'll be your strength each day, I’m so proud of you.

I’m trying to feel it, trying to know it, trying to see it, help my unbelief.

I'll be your strength I’m so proud.

Give me grace, give grace.

Do you know how you caught My eye.

I believe, o help my unbelief

In this secret place, the way you choose to die,

I believe help these eyes to see

Do you know the way you move me?