EVERYTHING.
Best Valentine’s Day ever. I don’t want to ever think of Valentine’s Day the way I did before today again. And I know I won’t. I hadn’t even been really excited about this day, hadn’t thought of it much. I realized all of a sudden that being out of America for this holiday has allowed me to see the true meaning in it… I haven’t been blinded by the red and pink that fills every single aisle and store window and every T.V. commercial. This day snuck up on me with no preparation or expectation on my part… Just like God’s love. Arthur Pink once said (paraphrase), “The love of God is uninfluenced; there is nothing in the object of His love to call it into exercise, prompt it, or attract it. The love of God is free, spontaneous, and uncaused.” I didn’t do anything to earn it and can’t do anything to get more of it. I’ve been freely loved so that I can love, I’ve been given so much so that I can give, I’ve been so, so blessed so that I can bless others… and it comes back around, I’m loved even more, given even more, and blessed even more through pouring it out. God’s love is overwhelming me today. He is my Valentine… forever.
This morning, we knew the guys had something up their sleeves. When we got to the kitchen for breakfast, there were no plates or food or anything on the table. We fixed our coffee and followed the guys to a little trail of flowers, which led to a breakfast picnic they had set up for us! It was so sweet and I was already filled with awe, so humbled, so honored, and about to cry over how they were serving us. Then we realized we each had a specific place to sit, with a single red rose, and notes from our family and friends that Ryan had solicited over email and facebook for us. My river of tears couldn’t be held in, I felt so loved. It was so unexpected and so great. This is only a fragment of what the guys did for us today… I could write on and on about how they honored us. They are truly great men of God and I don’t think we can thank them enough, not only for what they’ve done today, but for who they are on this team all the time. My team and my family, although they are hundreds of miles away, have made this day so special. They all pointed me to God and encouraged me to seek a deeper understanding of the real meaning of love.
God brought me here on purpose to show me His love today, in more ways than I’ve ever understood it.
This day is no different than any other day; God is Love 24/7/365. And that’s what I’m called to be. That’s why we are here in Nicaragua… to Love. I know He used this day to reinforce why we are here and what we are supposed to be.
I can’t understand Love apart from God. If I don’t have Love, I am nothing. Because He loved me first, I am able to love others, and His love is the only hope I have to love Him in return or to love anybody else. I am called to love God and love others; to be so fully loved by God that I can love others. He loves me not because of anything I did, but because He made me for himself. And all of this is true for you.
I pray that your day was just as full of love and that every day you feel His love so powerfully… “because He loves you because He loves you because He loves you because that’s who He is.”
