{"id":117,"date":"2020-07-23T00:38:17","date_gmt":"2020-07-22T12:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stacimclean.co.nz\/blog\/?p=117"},"modified":"2020-07-23T00:38:17","modified_gmt":"2020-07-22T12:38:17","slug":"do-you-know-how-much-you-are-loved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stacimclean.co.nz\/blog\/do-you-know-how-much-you-are-loved\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you know how much you are loved?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Recently I went to a funeral of a very dear friend. She was a kind and caring person, who would help anyone, but she struggled with low self-esteem and confidence and she found it difficult to accept that she was loved by her friends and family or by God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I sat in her funeral listening to the people who loved her dearly, speak about the incredible sense of loss they felt, I just wished she could have understood how much she was loved. The room was overflowing with people who were all impacted by her life and by her passing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Had she been there sitting next to me, seeing what I was seeing and hearing the words of speakers, reading the messages of condolences and the tributes, I think she would have been overwhelmed. So many people loved her, and God loves her even more. I wish she had understood that when she was alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But do any of us really know and accept how much we are loved? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we live our lives every day knowing deep down in our hearts that we are loved, accepted, and cherished by our family and friends?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we really understand how much God loves us?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our lives have the potential to be quite different if we can totally comprehend this love. If you knew you were loved unconditionally and completely, would you be fearful?  Would you feel insecure and unworthy? Would you be broken?  Would you feel alone or abandoned?  No. When we understand how much we are loved, we are confident, brave, courageous, loving, selfless, joyful, and strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human love can be messy and complicated, but God\u2019s love is not.\u00a0 God is love. God\u2019s love for us is complete, merciful, and perfect.\u00a0 I love the song, \u2018Reckless Love\u2019 by Cory Asbury<\/a>.\u00a0 The chorus captures this picture of the love of God so well.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.<\/em> It chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s love is reckless. He gave it all for us. He chases us and fights for us, we do not deserve it and we can never do enough to earn it, but He gives us freedom, healing, and salvation through Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus \u2013 the ultimate gift of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Know this, let it sink into your spirit and every cell of your body and mind.\u00a0 You are loved and you are cherished by God. He wants to know you. He wants to cover you with love. He wants you to understand and feels His love and then live your life bathed in His love, serving and loving others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently I went to a funeral of a very dear friend. She was a kind and caring person, who would help anyone, but she struggled with low self-esteem and confidence and she found it difficult to accept that she was loved by her friends and family or by God. As I sat in her funeral …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,57,80],"tags":[83,84,79,18,81,85,43,82,14,86,36,63],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stacimclean.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stacimclean.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stacimclean.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stacimclean.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stacimclean.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stacimclean.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122,"href":"https:\/\/stacimclean.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stacimclean.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stacimclean.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stacimclean.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}