all dried up

Some days, I can look at a total stranger and feel God's love for that person.
It is overwhemling, at times. It is a love so great that it brings tears to the eyes.
It is a love so great and magnificent that it awakens every fiber of my being and thrusts me into the truth and the all encompassing, magnamous power of love.

God's love is huge. It knows no borders and it extends until forever..
It is overwhelming.

There have been days when I feel God whisper into my spirit, "Rachelle, go hug that person."
"Rachelle, tell her of my great love.."
There have been days when I have seen the love of God stitch together brokenness...

and then there are days when I feel as if love is dried up..
Not God's love..My love.

There are days when I feel my well is empty. There are days when I go about my business, my routine and I feel nothing..
I only feel the pressing of time and the demand of work.
I see the lost and hurting and desperate people all around, but there are days when I feel nothing.

God subtly reminds me. ..We walk by faith, not by feelings.. So you don't feel?, He asks. Tell them of my great love anyway.
He says, " I am the well. I am the living water that heals the broken lives."

"Rachelle, you are powerless. Your love will never move mountains. Your love will never stir spirits or move hearts..Come to me and receive my love. Love is found at the foot of the Cross. Take that love and carry it around. Watch as I piece lives together. Be my hands to do the piecing. Become weak so that you may recieve my strength. Become broken so that you can recieve my love.

We all are like vessels. Even in all of our brokenness, He can still use us.
God works through pain. He bends it and shapes pain into beauty. He gives beauty for ashes.

When we are dry and when we feel nothing, when the wind blows against our faces and all we long to do is feel... Rest and the foot of the Cross. 
Find the living water there, at His Springs..beside His still waters..and take that love to the world weary and the desperate.

I once asked Jesus, "What does it mean to carry a cross."
I have since found that carrying a cross are those little acts of sacrifice. Those things we do. Carrying a cross is to love with so great a love that it forgets self...It forgets the routine. It forgets the demands of the day..and remembers that the greatest thing a person can do for another..is simply to love..

Why do we complicate love?

Have you ever noticed how we complicate one of the simplest and most beautiful concepts ever created? 
Love is not a knot that we have to untie, nor is it a problem that we have to solve.
It is this beautfiful thing, wrapped in blood soaked garments, pierced with razor sharp iron.
Our love is in our sacrifice.  Christ is exemplified through our sacrifice.

There have been days when I have wondered about God.
Who is God? What is God?
I believe in the Bible with every core of my being. I have seen its power come to life.
The Bible tells us that God is spirit. God is love. The Bible tells us that God is light.

One night God gave me a dream. Jesus was standing in a place that went on forever..a place that never ended.. He was standing next to this brilliant light. It was alive like fire. It flickered. It was pure, comprised of white and gold.  What I remember most about the dream was the feeling that I felt in the presence of that light. I felt more peace and more joy than I have ever known in my entire life.

When I woke up, I asked Jesus what the dream meant. He said that, as Christians, that light lives within each of us and it is our duty to take it to others.

I think about that dream often.
Sometimes, when I am loving "the least of these" as He has called us to do.. I can feel that great Light shining down upon me..and I think..
This is God.
This great, great overwhelming love is my God.  This peace. This joy. This all encompassing love that envelops me..

and then I ask,
Is it really that simple God?

You provide us the love that casts out all fear. You provide us an eteral, never ending love that looks like light and is shaped like a cross?
Is it that simple?

Something deep within me tells me that it is.
We analyze. We complicate God. We complicate loving and goodness.
But the bell of my mind keeps ringing..It really is quite simple.

Reader, whoever you are..
Let down your guard. Let God love you His fervor. Throw your net in the waters and prepare to reel in fish with scales that look like beauty and hearts touched by the love.
Don't concern yourself with your routine. Find the love at the foot of the Cross and drink in His life giving water.

It's quite simple. Really.