He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me~ The Truth That Changes Everything

I remember saying this poem on the playground when I was little, at the same time grabbing a dandelion to blow a wish that the daisy poem would forever land on 'He loves me'.

For good measure I would throw up a prayer that the wish would come true, that the poem would proclaim that he does, indeed, LOVE ME. As if the gentle drop of the last petal held the power to make it come bountifully to fruition-white horse and all.

The 'he' in the poem would drift from week to week with my childish whims & fancies. From the tan, skinny boy that chose me to be on his kickball team to the one that got stuck square dancing with me in gym class and smelled like Downy. Honestly, it didn't matter. From a young, tender and naive age I was just looking for a boy to love me.

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It wasn't until I was 30, after chasing all the wrong boys down the wrong paths-the wrong by a long shot paths, and after each boy seemingly proved again to my gullible heart that I wasn't enough, that my eyes were opened to the truth.

The truth that changed everything.

Do not be tempted to assume you know where this is going and that you've heard it all before. If you have heard it all before, then I would pay even closer attention because that, my friend, is the proof in the pudding. That you are LOVED.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8-11 (The Greek word Sin hamartia is derived from the root word hamartanō which historically was an archers term that means to "miss the mark")

Did you catch that? Read it again. Until you get it. Let it linger in your thoughts until the wall that you have built to shield yourself from letting others see your imperfections melts away. If you feel like running. Don't. If you feel like crying. Do. That just might be Jesus knocking at the door to your soul saying While you were still missing the mark, making mistakes, royally messing up, I took your punishment to make sure you could spend eternity with me. There was nothing in you at the time that showed me that you would ever stop missing the mark, but I didn't care. I loved you anyway.

Get this. He does not wait for you to stop sinning before deciding to love you. He loved you when he wonderfully made you (Psalm 139:14) -knowing that you would sin. He still loves you right now-knowing that you do sin. Let Him love you. His Spirit (acts 19)is the only one that can help you stop missing your mark. You can't do that by yourself, so just quit trying and know that you are fully loved anyway and that HE is waiting to be your King.
xo,

If you like to talk more about this feel free to email me privately at sherri@sdgartistry.com or I would love to hear your comments below! Special thanks to Megan Lehman from www.naturallythrifty.com for her awesome Daisy Photo!

DISCLAIMER: First, not all the boys were 'wrong." Some of them were really great and I was the one that was ALL WRONG. If one of you happens to be reading this for some odd reason, I'm sorry if I wasn't nice to you. :(
Second, I do not take the matters of sin lightly. This is not a message of license. Me missing my mark grieves God's Spirit and that breaks my heart. The truth here is that He loves me anyway. His job is loving me and He does it magnificently, my job is choosing to let Him daily and forever change me from sinner to Saint. I know that if I choose sin instead of choosing HIM-I am doomed. I get that. But it doesn't change the fact that HE LOVES ME....or YOU.