love me for me.

these past two weeks have been filled. filled to the brim with fun, exciting, sometimes stressful, eventful, glorious, beautiful memories. they have been shared with wonderful friends and fabulous family. i was blessed to enjoy a big birthday and then got to share in my closest friend's birthday celebration! it has been a whirlwind, but i wouldn't have it any other way. :)

what i've been learning these past few weeks is that i just want to love people. not in the way that you are probably thinking, not in a worldly way, not in a monetary way, but in a Christ-like way. I want each person that I come into contact with to see Christ's unending love for them. "We love because He first loved us." How much better can we say it? I've endured some frustrations lately in relationships, and I was blinded by that frustration so much that I lost the reality that no matter what, I am called to love those people. (yes, love even the ones that are frustrating or hurtful to you! its hard but Jesus loves us & we frustrate & hurt him every day!!!) If we love each other, how much more compared to that does God love us???!!! I don't know about you, but I have some really great people in my life whom I love deeply. And I just don't know how much more I could fathom loving someone, but Jesus does! What?! This is mind blowing.

I had a bible study last night with some younger girls. It was our first meeting and after all of the get to know you games & introductions, I had the opportunity to share the story of Ruth with them. Ruth is a special book to me. Its one of my favorite stories in the whole Bible simply because it is so simple & straightforward. Naomi & Ruth are alone. Their husbands have died, they have no income or way of providing for themselves besides "gleaning" (picking up the leftover wheat harvest). Ruth goes to glean at Boaz's plantation or farm (I dont know what they would have called it then ha!) & he favors her. He tells his workers to drop a little bit extra for Ruth, so that she would be able to take more wheat home. This is incredible to me! Ruth is a complete stranger to this man. Later, we find out that Boaz is second in line to be the rightful redeemer of Naomi (or Ruth in this case since she is younger). This means that he has the opportunity to marry Ruth in order to provide for her & Naomi. In today's time, this seems like an arranged marriage, like something creepy because Boaz is older. BUT it is so amazing. Boaz loves Ruth. He wants to save her from her widowed state. Think about it as a parallel to God's love for us. Boaz is a rich man. He has everything that he needs but he wants Ruth-- he loves Ruth. We are Ruth. God redeems us from our poverty stricken/widowed state. We are nothing yet He wants to save us. We are unworthy of His love but we receive it anyway.

This is so cool to me.

I know this is long. But I just feel that in these stressful times of first tests, events, obligations, and responsibilities of life we should be reminded that God loves us. John 16:33 says that Jesus overcame the world. He has conquered it all already so we don't have to worry if we have Him on our side.

So, stress no more. Give it to God. Have a great day and know that you are loved! :)