Love never gives up.

It doesn't. When things are hard. When we don't understand.

I thought love gave up. But my Father? He never gives up. And ME? How do I respond to the Father's love? Do I give up trusting in His great love for me when the road seems impossible? Not today I won't. I believe today more than ever before in His overwhelming love...His neverending faithfullness...His all-encompassing goodness. He cares so deeply for me...there is NO END to His love for me. We have only to read His gospels, to watch "The Passion of the Christ" to sense again how much He gave up to love us.

Yet in my world, where things seem difficult, I so often want to give up on love. And this is where I sit...giving up ground slowly but surely. But I say, NOT TODAY. I won't give up today.

I can't see. But I trust. I can't breathe at times, there is so much opposition. But I have faith in His goodness. I have hope in His goodness. I know how much it hurts HIM to see me hurting. And in this...I just beg for the ability to love Him supernaturally. It's so easy to love Him isn't it? It's also so easy to fall away. Why? Maybe because grace is free. It only costs your life. But it's really in giving your life that you get your life. So really, it's free.

Reading 1 Corinthians 13, the line, "pursue love but desire earnestly spiritual gifts" rings in my cranium.

Love. I saw "Love Actually", the Brit movie, when it came out...one of the love stories was over-the-top in my book (if you've seen it, you know, if not, there's no need to explain such debauchery!). But, for the most part, I felt like it gave a pretty accurate depiction of human love. Human love.

I really do think it only mirrors His love. It's such a farce compared to His. If human love isn't grounded in Divine love, well, it's a 20/80 chance of making it unscathed to the end. Maybe I'm off in this percentage but...

I've been in love mode with Him for a few days. But it surprised me how one little hitch in my getalong and off the band wagon I flew. So quickly I fell off the "Oh Father, All my hopes and dreams and trust are in You! I really do believe when I can't see!" Funny that He allows me to see my unfaithfulness so clearly. As a human it's only NORMAL that I'd have issues seeing into the unseen. BUT, I'm not called to live a NORMAL life. SUPERNATURAL is where He's going with me.

I still claim "OH He's SO GOOD!" so quickly. But my heart almost belies this with an ache. An ache that I think I put there. I was talking with someone recently about expectations...expectations is the food of bitterness. It's the food of discontentment. When expectations aren't met, well, bitterness and discontentment most often follow.

But when I get that His life for me doesn't look exactly like the life I'd choose for myself, well, I can move past all feelings of bitterness or discontentment. Honestly, I think the life He'd choose for me would be better than the life I'd choose for myself. I can't wait to see what He does next...