"I love you too!"

I heard many words of wisdom at our Neighborhood Bible Study this evening but one thing just keeps coming to mind. Beth Moore made a simple suggestion. She suggested that when we pray, instead of saying, "I love you Lord, " we should say, "I love you too, Lord." 

1 John 4:19 says that we love because God first loved us. So when we pray, we need to remember that God loved us first. So, we can say in response to His love, "I love you too, Lord!" 

It's easy for me to tell my children and even a stranger that God loves them more than they could ever imagine but for some reason, I just never seem to believe it for myself. I know of God's amazing love, His mercy, His grace, and His desire to have a relationship with His children. I know in my head that Jesus loves me and died for me. Why can't my heart truly believe this? Why is so hard for me to "feel" loved? I could list one hundred possible reasons but truthfully, I'm not sure why my heart just doesn't "get it." 

I'm going to start praying for that truth to settle deep in my heart. When I pray, I'm going to say, "I love you too, Lord!" When I feel unloved by the world, I'm going to remember that God first loved me and His love is all I really need.

Today I am grateful for our Neighborhood Bible Study, the fellowship and the lessons we're learning! In His sovereignty, God put our group together and I am overwhelmed with gratitude! It is such a wonderful experience to study God's Word with the ladies that live next door to me! I am also thankful that God loved me first and He desires for me to respond to Him with my heart wide open. It's hard sometimes because people hurt us so badly. We want to close our hearts up and guard ourselves from future hurt but we don't have to do that with God. We can freely and openly say, "I love you too, Lord!" We can know, without a doubt, that He is not just tolerating us. He truly loves us.