In God we are fully known and deeply loved #9

Sorry about the font sizes.  I tried to make it all the same but for some reason......

"To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial.  To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God.  It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us." Timothy Keller 

A little girl once prayed, Dear God, I bet it's very hard for You to love everybody in the whole world.  There are only 4 people in my family, and I can never do it? God's greatest love for you is a love without conditions. He loves you not for being good, clever or pretty or for going to church.  He loves you just for being you. 

My Mom was sharing a memory with me the other day.  As a child I recall one day going out with my Dad for a drive to downtown Vancouver because there was a girl there that wanted help getting away from the cult and drugs.  I remember driving home and almost every block we had to stop so she could throw up.  That's how strong the drugs were.  My Dad shared with her on our way home all about the Lord and how much He loved and cared for her.  When we got her into the house, she basically had nothing, even no clothes. She really wanted to take a bath however we could not leave her alone in the bathroom.  My Mom stayed with her, helping her wash her hair.  After bathing she said it was like washing away her old self.  Susie was with us for a few days, learning about how deeply loved she was by God, however her addictions were still very strong and she left our home.  The Lord loved her deeply but it was hard for her to accept His deep love for her.   

I want you to know that Jesus loves you, Child of God, He fully knows you!  He knows every single flaw and yet He still desires a relationship with you. The maker knows His creation.  Through His death on the cross Jesus offers to you and me a relationship with Him in which we are fully known, fully loved, and fully accepted.  Not because we are not flawed, but because Jesus wasn't and He has covered us and provided the perfection we need.  

God is still working in me. Not everything, but so much more than all I could have imagined before.  My deepest desire is to be fully known, fully loved and fully accepted...and yet I know that I already am.  Jesus knows every single thing about me, and he still loves all of me and I am fully accepted though His blood.  

Come, let’s shout joyfully to the LORD, shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation! Let’s enter his presence with thanksgiving; let’s shout triumphantly to him in song. For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods. The depths of the earth are in his hand, and the mountain peaks are his. The sea is his; he made it. His hands formed the dry land. Come, let’s worship and bow down; let’s kneel before the LORD our Maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep under his care. Today, if you hear his voice: Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the wilderness where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was disgusted with that generation; I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray; they do not know my ways.” So I swore in my anger, “They will not enter my rest.” Psalm 95 

Fully Known & Deeply Loved Verse 1 Even in my weakness I am not alone That's when You're the strongest That's when You bring hope I'm not a disappointment Even when I fall Your grace for me is constant You've seen me through it all Chorus There's one thing I'm certain of I'm fully known and deeply loved I'm no slave to what I've done I'm fully known and deeply loved Verse 2 Your light chased down my darkness My hiding was in vain But You never called me hopeless You called me by my name You have called me Righteous I can't outrun Your grace The blood that runs through Christ is Running through my veins Bridge As I am I am enough Nothing to prove Or to become I am found I'm found in Your love Forever I'll sing Of all that You've done