#jesuslovesyou – True Vine Living

The Valentine

Read Time 5 Minutes

Valentine’s Day is an annual celebration of romantic love, friendship, and admiration. When the question, “What is love?” is asked, the answers take on many forms. Love is a word used frequently, much of the time overused and misused in ways that make it casual and lose its meaning. However, there are some very famous quotes about love bringing the word back up to a level of powerful importance once again.

” I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.” ~ Mother Teresa

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” ~Martin Luther King Jr.

“We shall not long have love to man if we do not first and chiefly cultivate love to God.” ~ Charles Spurgeon

Entertainers like to chime in on “love” as well. Here are a couple…

“You always gain, by giving love.” ~ Reese Witherspoon

“It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them.” Agatha Christie

TRUE LOVE is more than a feeling! Love is more than an action! AND true love is not up for interpretation!

The real and full truth about love comes from knowing and experiencing that God Is Love! (1 John 4:8 and 1 John 4:16)

The question about love should not be, “What is love?”. The correct question about love is, “WHO IS LOVE?”.

“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 1 John 4:8

“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” 1 John 4:16

HOW CAN WE TAKE PART IN THIS TRUE LOVE? Abide in God and let Him abide in you. Ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior and to live in your heart!

HOW CAN WE LOVE, AND THEN IN TURN LOVE OTHERS? Because He first loved us! (1 John 4:19)

HOW MUCH DOES GOD LOVE US? He loves us so much that He gave His Only Son for us!!

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

HOW DO WE SHOW THIS LOVE?

“This is the most important,” Jesus answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31

WHAT DOES LOVE LOOK LIKE WHEN WE LIVE IT OUT ACCORDING TO GOD’S PLAN?

“Love is patient, love is kind.
Love does not envy,
is not boastful, is not conceited,
does not act improperly,
is not selfish, is not provoked,
and does not keep a record of wrongs.
Love finds no joy in unrighteousness
but rejoices in the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.” I Corinthians 13:4-7

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13

Valentine’s Day is upon us. It is a manmade day to celebrate love, particularly a romantic love. However, whether romantically involved or not, people have found fun ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Having been a teacher for 28 years, this day meant Valentine’s Day parties where the kids exchanged cards, and I received a lot of gestures of love!

How amazing it is that no matter the day, we can always experience a True Love that is more powerful than we can comprehend, never failing, and never ending! If you are a Christ-follower, than you have this Valentine from God:

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

When we are a Christ-follower, we can claim on Valentine’s Day and everyday and into eternity that, “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” (Song of Solomon 2:16).

In 1 John 4:19 we learn that “We love because He first loved us.” Thanks to God’s goodness, I have had the opportunity to show love and receive love in many ways during my life. I hope you have too. I put together a little photo gallery with captions that exemplify expressions of love that I have been blessed by God to experience or take part in throughout my life. There have been mountains and valleys, but God’s love for me and the way He also demonstrates His love through others in my life has been the prevailing force that spurs me on!

May you experience the fullness of God’s love today and everyday, and like me, reflect on how His love has touched your life!

My students forming a heart to emphasize kindness in our community.

Dog Love…a blessing from God as a reminder of His unconditional love!

My mom is an example of selfless love…a life lived of giving to her children and an example of living a life of deep faith in God.

My dad holding me shortly after arriving home from the hospital. Japan 1968

Michael’s family on our wedding day…a new family to belong to and be loved by.

This sweet couple in Haiti lovingly wanted to participate in the VBS experience alongside the children. They wanted to be a part of the excitement of learning about God!

It’s so exciting to watch the ones we love accept Jesus into their hearts and follow in believer’s baptism.

Lifelong friends are so special! We taught together, shared time together in book club, walked beside each other in faith, and remain a dear group of friends to this day!

The joys of teaching! It’s also a happy day when the teacher and student unknowingly show up in matching boots.

The love of a grandma presents a whole other level of comfort and love!

When you and the one you love accidently match, it’s just more confirmation of how you were meant to be together!

More dog love with this special pooch and “girl’s best friend”!

Michael is such a good dad to his sons. He is a Godly dad because he faithfully follows Christ.

Sister time! Having my sisters means friends for life and a level of protection you feel knowing they will go to battle for you.

Again, dogs are such special friends! Rueger is the newest addition.

It’s great when we can share adventures with those we love.

These two are an expression of years and years of faithful love and devotion to one another.

Shoebox gifts in Haiti! Share a box of love and the love of Jesus with a child.

Always Certain

I thought I would share something certain…something we can count on always. We live in tough and uncertain times, but God’s character is always sure, undeniable, indisputable, and never changes. We can be confident and feel victorious when we are HIS!

This is a collection of God’s character from Bible verses I highlighted in yellow (the color I use to highlight God’s divine character). This is but a small collection, and taken alone, just scrapes the surface of the majesty and love of God. However, by just reviewing this small assemblage of who God is, I find myself being reminded of how blessed beyond measure I am that He is my God!

GOD IS:

Righteous ~ Just~ Compassionate ~ Gracious ~ Slow to anger ~ Faithful in love ~ Good ~ HE performs valiantly~ HIS love endures forever. GOD knows you, searches you, understands you, is aware of all your ways, has extraordinary knowledge, and encircles you!

HE has eternal power and is divine in nature! HE shows no favoritism, and HE gives life to the dead! HIS spirit intercedes for us! GOD is: Wisdom ~ Knowledge ~ HE has unsearchable judgements and untraceable ways! HE gives endurance. HE gives encouragement. All things are from HIM...we exist for HIM!

HE is the Father of all mercies and the GOD of all comfort! Everything is from HIM. HE gave us the ministry of reconciliation in CHRIST (reconciling the world to himself)! HE doesn’t count our trespasses. HIS fruits of HIS SPIRIT are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. HE gives us incalculable riches of CHRIST!

HE is multifaceted wisdom and able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think! GOD is vast strength. HIS power enables HIM to subject everything to HIMSELF! HIS full nature dwells in the body of CHRIST! HIS word is living and effective and sharper than a double edged sword! GOD is a consuming fire. HE is the GOD of all grace!

“I am the Alpha and Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8

We’re not in Narnia!

“Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.” Martin Luther

Read Time 3 Minutes

“Why it is she that has got all of Narnia under her thumb. It’s she that makes it always winter. Always winter and never Christmas; think of that!” These words were spoken by Tumnus the faun in C.S Lewis’s novel, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He was referring to the spell that was cast over Narnia by the White Witch.

The Confluence of The Big Thompson River and The Fall River- Estes Park, CO

Lately, it feels like our country…our world has been cast under a spell called the Corona-virus! A spell that has harmed people directly with sickness, taken lives, and affected everyone world-wide with shut downs, lock downs, and economic peril! However, we are not under a spell! This is not Narnia! While we are shut in and shut out, the natural things of this world are waking up around us! Everyday, more is in bloom. Birds are chattering all about. At the confluence of two rivers, you will find such a dancing of waters coming together flooding the banks from the melting snow! It is not winter anymore, it is spring!

Let this bring us joy, whether we are able to take a short walk with our dog, or perhaps only look out our window, or possibly just step outside and hear the birds for a few minutes. Let this beautiful spring remind us that there is still order. Things are actually under control. God knows what is going on. He’s got this. He works all things together for the good of those that love Him (Romans 8:28). For those that know Christ, he is working in each of us right now to draw us more deeply to Him. Hopefully, the circumstances will draw others to Him for the first time as everyone is pondering their needs and their futures during this time. The God who takes care of the birds and makes the flowers bloom will take care of us too (Luke 12:22-31)! It may not be what we think we need, so we must rest in the sovereignty of the One who created the heavens and the earth and whose ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9). Let us rest in the refreshment and the tranquility that comes from being renewed each morning by Christ’s love for us. Let the spring that is awakening around us remind us of His love that renews our minds, our spirits, and our strength. Let it wash over us with an endless peace to carry us through each day!

This is not Narnia…always winter and never Christmas. For in our world, even when things can appear to be gloom and doom, we have Christmas EVERY day! We celebrate Christmas because Jesus was born. He is our greatest gift…the gift that keeps giving, the gift that fills us, the gift that never stops giving, and the gift that is eternal. We don’t have to have Christmas just once a year. If we ask Jesus to live in our hearts and be our Lord and Savior, we have him 24/7…365 days a year, and for eternity. As spring is blooming all around us, we are nearing the time of year that we celebrate Jesus’s death and resurrection. He died and rose again so that we may have a new life in Him and so that we can live forever with Him in Heaven. With that kind of certainty, we can face the temporary uncertain days with a renewed confidence!

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Let’s take notice of the new life budding around us each day in this tumultuous world, and let it serve as a reminder that our Creator has all things under control. Let our spirit be renewed with the abundance of the beauty around us!