1: His Love is Waiting to be Found

Well, dear friends, we’ve reached the end of February, and the conclusion of what I coined #FearfullyFebruary – a search for and focus on the LOVE of our Creator in a month when we often search for love elsewhere.

Look at some of our beautiful discoveries & celebrations this month:

I think that when I started this project 30 days ago, I expected February to be filled with big milestones and revelations and flashing signs from the Lord.

Instead, my good Father revealed Himself to me in small moments, in sweet times of quiet, and in the simple, messy, beautiful love of my community.

I was craving BIG. He, as always, worked in the small.

I was thinking NEW. He, gentle and kind, showed me the greatness in what is already in front of me.

It’s an honor to see everything that He has done in one month alone, and an honor to share in the glorious mystery of His affection with each of you.

I started out writing one post to encompass what we’ve learned together this month, but there. was. just. SO. MUCH! So, I decided to break it up into easy-to-digest pieces. Plus, my penpal and dear friend has been on this journey with me this month, and I am excited to get to share some of her reflections with you later this week!

I hope you’ll grab some coffee or snuggle in your bed and find some comfort and joy here. I am expectant that, together, we will know the goodness of the Father further and deeper than before as we reflect and celebrate.

So, to begin…

What February taught me:  His love wants to be found.

This discovery – this beautiful invitation – began this month with an alarm on my phone.

You know how you can title your alarms on your iPhone? Like “WAKE UP!” or “Time for a Snack” (just me?)

My 7:00 am alarm is titled: “His Love is waiting to be found everywhere.”

I think I created that alarm almost five years ago in college, and I’ve often glanced at that phrase when I’ve sleepily turned over to hit snooze.

But I found this sweet phrase to be totally true this month. When I started to look for His Love, I found it. Easily and everywhere.

Isn’t this beautiful? I felt like looking for God’s love was like playing hide-and-seek with a four-year-old. He is so excited to be discovered by me that He hides in the most obvious of places. He doesn’t tease me. He is just so excited to be with me again, so excited for me to find Him and experience the delight of discovery.

True, we still have to choose to seek. But the finding is a joint effort between the Good Father and His children. When we pursue, He pursues us right back. What a beautiful picture of God’s relentless heart!

Here were some of the obvious hiding places God hid his love in my life this month:

• In long, tearful hugs, because God’s embrace is tender, vulnerable and trustworthy.
• At my corporate office, because God authored work as an exercise in our fulfillment and sanctification. And its cool to be a part of that, even when it feels like I’m just answering lots and lots of emails.
• In the purples and reds and oranges of sunrises and sunsets, because God’s handwriting is in those watercolors and wispy clouds.
• In the strength of my body, as I went for a long run early on a Sunday morning, because He is the breath in my lungs and the strength of my heart.
• In kind gestures, because He wrote the book on kindness.
• In colors, because those are the hues he imagined, he invented, he named. All for us to see and delight in.
• In the warmth of the walls of my little home, because he welcomes me home to the threshold of his grace each new day.
• In the faces on my dear friends, because he created them to be the strong and smart and kind women that they are.
• In my own hard heart, because God helped me release some lingering unforgiveness that was intoxicating for my spirit. Because He wants to lead me to flourishing.

What a beautiful, full and joyful month it has been.

 

Hands-down, the most beautiful place I found God’s Love this month was in other people.
More on that tomorrow!