Copyright©2016 Daneille Gray Snowden
2016
"I love you BIG!" A heart felt quote I stole from a good friend of mine. I tell my friends and family; my heart is SWOLLEN with God's Love and can't help but to love BIG!
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As a child of God; striving to not only draw close to Him but to be like Jesus we come about this 'BIG' heart love honestly:
"For out of His fullness (abundance) we have all received [all had a share and we were all supplied with] one grace after another and spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing and even favor upon favor and gift [heaped] upon gift." John 1: 16
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Learning to love beyond myself was not instantaneous (although I do believe in some cases it can happen as we are adopted as children of God). Truthfully, it can only be amazingly accomplished by the Grace of Jesus and the Work of the Holy Spirit.
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When I was first married, (as a Christian young lady); I had to learn sacrificial - 'selfLESS-serving-love' toward my husband as he did for me. It was a daily pursuit as we had to learn to bite our tongues and thus serve one another. Laying down our lives and our wants for the other.
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Then kids come along...wow! And when they were babies, we found them quite demanding of wants and needs too! The big thing is; we have this 'BIG' love in our hearts for them. We WANT to provide, protect and care for them. Yet, again it takes laying our own fleshly needs and wants down for our children.
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GOD DID THAT:
John 3:16
“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life."
Painful situations in my life have come (through-out the years) as my BIG heart gets stepped on, poked at, misunderstood and eventually broken. The heart (emotionally speaking) is such a powerful and vital part of life. Without it, life would indeed be empty. Would you agree? My heart feels a little stepped on presently and as I ponder this the Lord told me;
"Imagine how I feel when my BIG heart is stomped on, poked and broken?" The Lord went on to say; "People misunderstand my Word, and or become angry with how the Holy Spirit is leading. They choose to become angry, or resistant and eventually ignore me completely."
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I bowed my head low and prayed; "Oh Lord, I first ask for Your forgiveness of the times I have done this." Then God just stirred deeper in me stating;
"This is where the church is -- I have so much planned for their lives, wrote it all out in my Word. Some have chosen to walk away completely. Others have tried to re-write what is plainly written. I send my Holy Spirit through various sources (My chosen instruments) to tell them How much I truly love them and all I have purposed for their lives.
Yet, they have 'unfriended' me. My heart, my BIG heart hurts."
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We all have sung the chorus; 'To Be Like Jesus' - as a servant of our Lord, it should be our heart's cry.
When we do, we must know to be like Him is to not only to walk holy and righteous but also to LOVE BIG! In so doing it's also being well acquainted with His hurts...His sufferings!
Philippians 3:10
"And this, so that I may know Him [experientially, becoming more thoroughly acquainted with Him, understanding the remarkable wonders of His Person more completely] and [in that same way experience] the power of His resurrection [which overflows and is active in believers], and [that I may share] the fellowship of His sufferings, by being continually conformed [inwardly into His likeness even] to His death [dying as He did];"
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Are we willing to continue to love BIG, even though there is suffering involved? That is an answer only you and I can give. But, allow me to add; as long as we are FULL OF JESUS, and long to continue to serve Him in completeness; we will not be able to do anything else but to LOVE BIG!
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I can tell you from years of experience, I have had my moments I would rather just walk away and not feel the aches of being hurt when my love is twisted around and truly misunderstood. And, quite frankly, I have done this...walked away. Yet, praise the Lord - someone was praying I know that for sure! That, eventually I decided this has caused a distance between me and my Lord. I want to be ONE with Jesus. Thus, I knew the fear of being hurt AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN... would have to flee. I cannot have a 'precedence' first before living our a life of LOVING OTHERS.
Join me will you, LOVE BIG for Jesus!
I also dedicate this to my husband who has taught me selfless love, as well as my 3 children: Nathan, Felecia & Tabitha.
My own parents exhibited this first in my life; without that I am not sure where I would be.
