Love That Will Not Let Me Go

The life of a Christian is a struggle. God never said it would be easy. His love accompanies us, and that LOVE is what makes it worth it. I was writing about His love today on Facebook and felt the need to spend some time with God down on my knees, just thanking Him for loving me. As I pray to Him, unlike talking to any other counselor, there is no need to pretend or put up any defense whatsoever, because He already understands. He already understands me and knows my every thought. I can't hide anything from Him. There is no need to act strong when I am really not, not with Him. This God who has seen me at my worst, inside and out, ALWAYS LOVES ME. It really is too good to be true, except it is all true.

I have never known any love like it, not even close. My family loves me, and I know they love me unconditionally, but not like Jesus. This world says we need "to be" so much, but all God wants from me is "me". My heart is what He sees, and as confused as I have been at times, as sad, as lonely, as troubled, as tossed about, He has never let me go. At this stage of my life, my being is totally at rest with Him. I am happy on the inside, even when no one is around, no one but Jesus who will never let me go. I thank God for the Comforter.

Today I am not sad, and I am not troubled, but I am a girl 100% indebted to Jesus. He has done so much for me. He saved me, realizing every mistake I would ever make, and He still chose me as His own. I thanked Him today for His love, and I told Him with tears that it is worth whatever it costs. I thank Him, not just for loving me, but for the cost of His love toward me I have had to pay. Whatever it has costs me has been things and people I never needed any way. He gives me such good gifts. Down on my knees, alone with Jesus, is the safest place I have ever known. Giving Him my heart all over again and again is the safest place my heart has ever been.

One blessing of His love is how He gave me a mother who taught me the hymns before I could even speak plainly. I was raised singing the hymns. I cannot sing them without thinking back to how I used to sing them as a child and thinking about what the words mean. I find myself so at home with the hymns, because the hymn writers truly understood that living for Jesus in this world is no picnic. It is hard at times and very painful, yet I am sealed in Jesus by the Holy Spirit, and His love --not just His commandments--will never let me go. This is such a beautiful hymn. I have been singing it all day:

O Love that wilt not let me go
I rest my weary soul in Thee
I give Thee back the life I owe
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer fuller be

O Light that follows all my way
I yield my flickering torch to Thee
My heart restores its borrowed ray
That in thy sunshine's glow its day
May brighter fairer be

O joy that seekest me through pain
I cannot close my heart to thee
I trace the rainbow through the rain
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be

O cross that liftest up my head
I dare not ask to hide from Thee
I lay in dust life's glory dread
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be

Another favorite of mine is:

I love to tell the story
Of unseen things above
Of Jesus and His glory
Of Jesus and His love
I love to tell the story
Because I know it's true
It satisfies my longings
As nothing else can do

I love to tell the story
'Tis pleasant to repeat
What seems each time I tell it
More wonderfully sweet
I love to tell the story
For some have never heard
The message of salvation
From God's holy Word

I love to tell the story
'Twill be my theme in glory
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and His love

I love to tell the story
For those who know it best
Seem hungering and thirsting
To hear it like the rest
And when in scenes of glory
I sing the new, new song
'Twill be the old, old story
That I have loved so long

[I can hardly ever sing that song without crying. I do love to tell people about Jesus and defend who He really is, because He is my Friend.]

I love to tell the story
'Twill be my theme in glory
To tell the old, old story
Of Jesus and His love