You Are So Loved (Blog Post and Big News!)

You woke up today with the week heavy on your chest.

Like life is one long To-Do list and there are never enough boxes checked.

You scrolled through your newsfeed and scanned a couple articles about salvation through de-cluttering and simplifying your life, but you just don’t have time to read to the end, so you saved them to your endless “To Be Read” pile. The irony did not escape you.

De-cluttering sure sounds like a miracle remedy but it won’t rescue your lost child, resurrect your damaged relationship, pay your overdue mortgage, or reverse your diagnosis.

It can’t roll back the years—months—days and it can’t fast forward you through this trial.

Boy, if all it would take was a clean closet, you’d have sprung to your feet today without lingering here in your thoughts.

You’re thinking you didn’t expect to still be in this place at this age.

You’re stifling regrets because you know that’s wasted emotional energy.

You’re wondering how you’ve ended up so alone so often.

You’re reflecting on how hard you’ve tried, how much you’ve prayed, and how intentionally you’ve lived but there were curveballs, miscalculations, and a host of things you never saw coming—plus, you know, you’re a sinner, so, there’s that.

This line of thinking needs to be silenced so you hold a pillow over its face until it’s quiet.

There are people you can call who will tell you it’s all going to be okay, but they don’t really know. They just want it to be as badly as you do.

You need someone with power. Someone with authority. Someone in a position to offer actual reassurance.

Right. You know that guy.

And a Bible verse springs to mind, “Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14)

It’s been a long time since you were a child. But for a moment you think, wouldn’t it be great? Wouldn’t it be amazing to have someone to run to right now? Someone who would hold this aching part of my soul and tell me that I won’t be alone through this?

Here’s the truth.

Jesus hears the part of you that will never grow old. That child within that loves the crisp smell of fall, the glow of a campfire, the sweetness of pie, and a reassuring hand on your shoulder. He sees that child you’ll hold forever in your soul.

Let that child go to Him and do not hinder him or her. Because that’s where you find the belief, the faith, the hope to face the day knowing you’re not alone.

It’s not just something we say.

It’s not religious wishful thinking.

He does redeem.

He does rescue.

He does save.

He does have all power and authority.

And He loves you.

You don’t even know how wide, how high, or how deep that love goes because the disciple trying to be grownup in your soul is holding back that child in your heart from running into His arms.

Let them both run to Jesus. He wants all of you. He adores you. He gave everything for you so there’s nothing good that He’ll withhold now.

There is no limit to His love or to what He will do.

Believe again.

It’s okay. Believe again today. Because it’s all even more true than we can take in. We all forget. We all let it fade, but He is ever ready to refresh, to renew, and to revive us again.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,  that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:14-21 ESV

“Oh what can be done for an old heart like mine?”

**THE BIG NEWS!**

Dear Readers, If you’ve been burdened by the division in our nation around skin color and ethnicity and are looking for tools to further the kingdom work of reconciliation, I invite you along on a new adventure.  Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith and I have co-authored a new book, Colorful Connections: 12 Questions about Race that Open Health Conversations that releases on September 20th.  It’s time for us all to believe again that we can make a difference, no matter what skin color God has given us. Join us! Please help spread the word and further the conversation of what Jesus can do to repair all of our relationships by helping us with our launch! 

Begin reading the book before it’s available to the public.

Discuss the book with me, Saundra, and other team members during live group discussion times.

Be entered to win weekly fun giveaways for your participation.

Pray and actively participate together in opening ourselves to more colorful connections and conversations to envision what healthier relationships could look like for the church and for all other areas of our life.

You are so LOVED! (Blog post and BIG NEWS!) https://t.co/F4zQoBG5x4 #colorfulconnections #NewReleases

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) August 30, 2022