LOVE

what is LOVE?
God has really placed this question on my heart. what is LOVE? who should i LOVE? why should i LOVE? what can LOVE do for me. i have been thinking about how great GOd's love for us is. it is so overwhelming but beautiful. we will never understand God's love for us.

God is LOVE.

(1 John 4:16) And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

LOVE is to be shown by serving God and obeying His commands

(Joshua 22:5)But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul."

(Deuteronomy 10:12-13) And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

what are God's commandments?

(Matthew 22:37-39) Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

what does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?

(Leviticus 19:18)'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

we demonstrate our love for God by trusting in God

(John 14:1)Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. Paul speaks a lot about love, and how important love is

(1 Corinthians 13:4-8) Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end... And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

God is where all of our love comes from. you can't Love God without loving other people:

(1 John 4:19-21) We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

GOD IS LOVE. Praise God for loving us!

To my daughter

i wrote this today. after you read it once,then read it again, but read the first line in each stanza all the way down, and then the second line in each ..third etc..

To my Daughter:

why do you cry little one?
your eyes leak sorrow
can i hold you?
can i rock you to sleep?
little one?

i know why you cry
i know why
can i still hold you?
and take you burdens?
little one?

i see you suffer
take comfort in me knowing
please can i hold you?
for my yoke it light,
little one

i forgive you
i love you
can i hold you now?
and can i protect you
please little one?

I will praise you in the sunshine and the rain

ok, soo.. hmm..God has just really been teaching me a lot lately. He has really been saying Karen you have to settle down, you have to grow up in Christianity. He's really been testing my faith, and what i feel. like..when things went bad at home or with friends i used to get all depressed, and really look it as a negative thing. but now when things go wrong, GOd is just like im still here, and i still love you, so trust in me. i am learning to trust God with everything i have. a comment that a lady made at homegroup last night, was something around this.."it gives me great comfort to know that God knows everything, that when things go wrong God already knows what he can do about it, and why it happened" That just really spoke to me. i never really thought of it like that. and it just opened my eyes to how powerful GOd is. Yeah things aren't going great, but i will worship my Lord!!

Isaiah 33:2 "O Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress."

waterfall of many colors

I was standing at the top of a waterfall. I decided to jump in. As my heart raced it was as if the waterfall was beating on my heart fasater and faster. to the point where i was submerged in water. I was so full of joy i started smiling and as i looked around there were other christians i knew under the water, smiling as well. Suddenly bursts of vibrant color were everywhere, coming out of people, darting out different parts of the water, it was an amazing site. Thank you Lord for a weekend full of visions..

crazy africa dream

so i was in a car in africa, and i was driving, and looking around at all the poor people, and i just started balling. so i decided to get out of the car and go talk to them and hug them. so as im walking over, i am surrounded by these little africian kids, who are tugging at my shirt, so i bend down and start hugging them one by one. but then there is this one boy, who is obviously the poorest. he pulls my hand to follow him, and i did.(out of no where my leg started bleeding really badly different colors) i was amazed to see these women surrounding a man i think, everyone was wearing orange and purple clothing, and braids in their hair. and there was one woman singing to him, then it was almost like i couldnt see anymore, as if a cloud of smoke came over me, but i felt this thing hold onto me, i was lifted up in the air, where i could see everything. i felt like God was healing me of everything,my leg, but not only me, but a burden i was carrying for someone...it was such an amazing feeling...