My husband and I took a trip to Gatlinburg, TN a couple of years ago. We left for a needed trip, in between two very hard seasons in our life. We left from Western, N.Y, and drove down to Tennessee from there, crossing several states. I enjoyed this ride enormously. We drove through some of the most beautiful terrains, overlooking those lakes that are like mirrors, reflecting every inch of us, and all that is around us, with perfection. They expose every detail and create a flawless portrait of what is there.

This year has been like looking into one of those lakes. It has reflected who we are and it has exposed our hearts in ways that have been extremely uncomfortable, yet necessary.

I am not pointing fingers here, nor am I am exempt from this exposure. Several months ago, God began stirring something in my heart. After some needed reflecting, I began praying how my life during this time could be a beautiful painting of who He truly is, and not a forgery. I was watching people talk about “love” all over the place on social media. Everyone seems to have their own definition of what that truly means. I wanted to understand what God said love really is, and what does it mean when the bible says that, “God is love”.

So I began studying God’s Word and I am excited about sharing this here and in other places. This is new for me as well. I have never looked at what God says love is, I have just conformed to what the world and others have said about it.

I remember growing up thinking love was very conditional. I was only lovable if I did things perfectly right, and exactly the way someone wanted it done. Or if looked a certain way, like the women in the magazines and on television. I thought a loving relationship was like those I saw on the Soap Operas back in the day, or like a Disney fairy tale. I have struggled to feel like I am worth being loved, and I have struggled to learn what healthy love looks like because of my past and preconceived ideas.

I don’t think I am alone in this, and I want us all to get to a place where we can fully understand God’s love, and most importantly receive it, give it, and live it.

Where have you learned about love? How has that shaped your definition of love?

As I have looked in that beautiful clear lake of 2020, God has given me a clear reflection of my own heart, and a clear reflection and exposure of all that are going on around me when it comes to this topic of love. We have accepted a portrait that has been forged by our enemy, satan. He has taken what God has created and called good and forged it into something that is ugly, distorted, and dishonest. Which in turn causes us to live lives that do not express that genuine, flawless, and truthful picture of who God truly is and His love.

We may look at the word flawless and say to ourselves, “I can never be perfect in love”. That is true. We will never love perfectly, but when we know God’s love and its true meaning, we will love others with God’s perfect love flowing through us, and through that love, others will then know God is who He says He is, and they will know a love that is more powerful, healing, and uniting than anything else they have ever known.

The world will never know the true meaning of love until we as Christ-followers do, and the reflection I have seen in the lake of 2020, has exposed the truth that many of us who follow Jesus and love God, do not know what His love really means. We don’t speak like we know HIs love, and we don’t act like we know His love, and we have given the world a forged portrait of this God we love and serve.

Will, you join me on this journey into God’s Word, to discover what love sincerely means through the eyes of our Heavenly Father, and our Savior, Jesus Christ? I desire to show the world a genuine and truthful portrait of who He is. I have spent too many years, showing the forgery. May He guide us into all truth, by the power of the Holy Spirit as we read His Word, pray for one another, and encourage each other on this ride together.

Heavenly Father, We thank You for Your beautiful creation that reflects you flawlessly. We thank You for the hard seasons that expose our hearts, so we may be healed and have our minds renewed. As we being to study love, we lay down our preconceived ideas, the lies we have believed, and the walls we have held up that hinder us from receiving Your love. May You do a work in us, and help us to reflect You in a way that will cause the world around us to know the real You. In Jesus Name, Amen!