God had a lot He was wanting to share with me this morning.  I awoke at 4:00 am knowing I needed to get up and find out what was on God’s mind for me.  I was already needing to get up and process some things that had happened yesterday.  What I didn’t know was that God was wanting to talk with me about them.  Now it is 3 hours later and I’m needing to share what stepping into today’s journey has already revealed.

God has been wanting to convince me He loves me unconditionally.  He is not keeping score–I am the one who has always done that.  In the book He Loves Me, by Wayne Jacobsen, the author tells a story about himself in this arena.  He points out that every time we do something wrong or are hanging onto shame, etc., we think we put another point on the scorecard of ruining our spiritual relationship with God.  God on the other hand wants us to know that when He had His Son, Jesus Christ, die on the cross for us He filled our scorecard once and for all.  This is His unconditional love.  I want to quit keeping score.  In fact, just as I was about to write this paragraph my cell phone rang.  It was one of my CR buddies who was needing to confess a very recent sin he’d committed.  His very words were that he was afraid he was ruining his chance of ever having a genuine relationship with Christ.  I was able to share with him exactly what I’m trying to make clear here.  Our sin will not stop God from loving us.  It sure allows Satan to have a hay day convincing us we can’t have any relationship with God.  But, that’s why James wrote in his book in chapter 5 verse 16 that we are to confess our sins to one another so we can pray for each other.  It goes on to say that the prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective.  God wants our relationship with Him to connect with those we trust.  In sharing our burdens and sins with our trustworthy friends we grow in our relationship with God.  It is a beautiful piece of Christ’s gift once we take the risk to try it out.  It also helps those we share with.  They grow in their own relationship with you and God.

I told yesterday that my grand nephew had drowned in the Snake River last weekend.  His body was found Wed. evening–Praise the Lord.  This has already eased some of the burden for his parents and my sis and husband, the grandparents.  His service is next Tuesday evening at 5:00 pm if you’d like to pray for it.  Thanks for the prayers to find his body.

God is really driving home for me that He loves me.  I just want to add that I’m not a favorite child either.  He loves you equally so.  He is the only parent without prejudice.  If you struggle with this yourself, reach out.  He wants to prove to you that He is genuine in this commitment for you.