Let yourself be loved
Wednesday, July 04, 2018
I don’t give myself much time to read these days. But in the past week, I’ve done a little bit of reading. I’ve picked up my book again, and it’s been life giving.
I've been very slowly reading The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp. It's good for the soul. In the chapter I’ve just read, she shares of one evening, while she was sitting and reading, her husband arrived home late in the evening from working their farm. He saw her – really saw her – and came and massaged her feet.
In his weary state, he chose to love her.
But as much as her body and soul craved that, she found it hard to accept, she found it hard to receive his love.
She wanted to distract him from loving her: how was your day and how is the farm? But he stopped her and chose to love.
She asked him if he felt tired, and in that moment of giving himself, he declared the truth that he didn’t. She still found it difficult to be loved.
She spends so much of her time giving away of herself.
“Why is it so hard to receive? ...
Why can it be easier to pour out than to let yourself be loved?”
I get like this. I am a giver, I am self-sufficient, I am capable. There’s much to do, many to care for, important things... and I find it hard to receive love. Am I deserving of love, am I good enough? The fact is, is that I am.
Are you ever like that? Do you also find yourself giving yourself away, that you cannot see that you are just as deserving of love, that you cannot receive love?
You may not have felt love in a long time – the love that says I am known, I am valued, I am wonderful, just how I am. And I am sorry.
You are loved. Just as you are.
You are deserving of love. Just as you are.
You are worth being loved. Just as you are.
Maybe there is noone on this earth who can love you in the ways that you need or desire or deserve. But I can tell you that there is a God in heaven, who also lives amongst us, who loves you. He loves you because he loves you because he loves you.
“Letting yourself be loved is an act of terrifying vulnerability and surrender. … Letting yourself be loved gives you over to someone’s mercy and leaves you trusting that they will keep loving you, that they will love you the way you want to be loved, that they won’t break your given heart.”
I promise, that if you allow him, God will love you in ways that you haven’t experienced.
He knows you and loves you.
He sees you and loves you.
He made you and loves you.
And do you know what, he loves you and then asks you to follow him. You do not need to change for God to love you. He loves you and then invites you to follow him. Who you are now is all he wants. He will love you in a way which you mightn’t feel you deserve, but he doesn't see you how you see yourself.
You just have to receive the gift. Accept his offer. Choose to be loved.
And I think that might just change everything.
“Why is it so hard to receive? ...
Why can it be easier to pour out than to let yourself be loved?”
 |
| Photo by Nonki Azariah on Unsplash |
Are you ever like that? Do you also find yourself giving yourself away, that you cannot see that you are just as deserving of love, that you cannot receive love?
You may not have felt love in a long time – the love that says I am known, I am valued, I am wonderful, just how I am. And I am sorry.
You are loved. Just as you are.
You are deserving of love. Just as you are.
You are worth being loved. Just as you are.
Maybe there is noone on this earth who can love you in the ways that you need or desire or deserve. But I can tell you that there is a God in heaven, who also lives amongst us, who loves you. He loves you because he loves you because he loves you.
“Letting yourself be loved is an act of terrifying vulnerability and surrender. … Letting yourself be loved gives you over to someone’s mercy and leaves you trusting that they will keep loving you, that they will love you the way you want to be loved, that they won’t break your given heart.”
I promise, that if you allow him, God will love you in ways that you haven’t experienced.
He knows you and loves you.
He sees you and loves you.
He made you and loves you.
And do you know what, he loves you and then asks you to follow him. You do not need to change for God to love you. He loves you and then invites you to follow him. Who you are now is all he wants. He will love you in a way which you mightn’t feel you deserve, but he doesn't see you how you see yourself.
You just have to receive the gift. Accept his offer. Choose to be loved.
And I think that might just change everything.
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