Love Eternal

The other day, I was doing homework and feeling rather unmotivated to finish my paper, so I decided to go on a walk, and read and have some time in God's word and in prayer. And this is what God gave to me, so I wanted to share it with...whoever reads this.

Love Eternal

"Tell me your secrets,"
my Lord calls out,
"your heart is full of beauty,
I love you without doubt,
and would you but reveal
to me the depths of your longing,
I'd fill you with Love Eternal
and a knowledge of belonging."

Oh, the love of a Savior
conquers all fear,
sets me on fire,
and stays me here.
In the arms of Love Eternal
I am, finally me,
and there is one thing I know:
I was blind, but now I see.

How I tried to conquer
the darkness on my own,
but found that more surrounded,
the more I was alone.
In a crowd of the unwanted,
the diguised, and abused--
in the midst of drowning, heard,
"There is no flaw in you."

Oh, the love of my Savior
conquers spreading fears,
heals a wounded heart,
and stays me here.
In the arms of Love Eternal,
beautiful I can be,
it is the only truth I know--
I was blind, but now I see.

In the arms of Love Eternal,
I was blind, but now I see.

I found my inspiration from two places in Scripture, John 9 and Song of Songs 4:7. The love of Christ for us washes away the lies that the world wants us to believe, the lies that tell us that we aren't good enough, not strong enough, not beautiful or not "cool" enough. The Lord want us to give our hearts to him fully, to rely on him fully, trusting in him with the deepest parts of our hearts, with our fears and our insecurities. We can't do it on our own; we end up more alone and more confused than we were before. But putting our trust in the Lord never fails. I hope this was as encouraging to you as it was to me!

*also, this poem was written by me. please don't copy it without permission. thanks!

WOO it's been a while...

Well it's no longer summer, which means that maybe the name of my blog doesn't really fit anymore. Maybe I'll change it. We'll see. It also means that it's been over a month since I've updated this thing...which is not good. It's not what I intended, anyway.

I don't think I'll try to update every detail of what I've learned since August, but I've learned a lot! A lot of things are different now too! Like school. Which is taking over my life. And Ekklessia (house church), which is taking over my heart. God really is doing such incredible things relationally in our house church and I'm so excited to see how much more he does even this semester! I think we've really grown together as friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, which is really incredible to me. Basically, I love it.

I've been reading a lot lately about how the Lord is the light of the world, but the world is filled with darkness, and darkness doesn't understand the light. It's strange, but I've read about this twice in the past few days in two completely different places in the Bible.

First one, John 1:3 says, "Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it."

AND Isaiah 60:1-3 "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn."

The brokenness of this world breaks my heart, and I can see and feel the darkness all around me in my classes, in my town, in the church, everywhere. As sinful humans, we really can't escape it. But how amazing is it that the Word says that the Lord rises upon us? He has given us life that is the light of men, Jesus, and yet we still have not understood it. And yet God chooses us. He loves us, and cherishes us, and reveals himself to us. And all we must do is believe and be changed.

So in the midst of everything crazy, I guess I'm just holding on to the fact that I'm saved from the darkness of this world, and must arise, and shine, so that others can come to the brightness of His dawn.

That's all I've got...now I have to actually go do my homework. Go figure. :)

Love and peace!
Jen