Am I Loved

You may call her unloved. At least, I’m pretty sure that she considers herself unloved. If she doesn’t consciously see herself as being unloved, every visible aspect of her character screams "I am unloved!" It flashed through my mind: can any one of us truly be unloved — when God is love? The real question can never be, then, "Am I loved?" The real question is, "Am I receiving God’s love?"

It may have been about three years ago that I began to "get" this. I had read about the five love languages, and I quickly grasped that my own was quality time. I hadn’t made it far with that before I realized that very, very few people took time for me, and that was why I didn’t feel loved.

As you can, perhaps, see, not a lot of that would be required before a big pity party could ensue. The pity party came, but the pity party went, because I saw the light. God Himself is perfectly, entirely willing to spend as much time with me as I would like, and I never have to be concerned that He’s pretending to listen to me while he’s totally focused on something or someone else. No, when I’m talking to Him, He’s listening, with His heart.

It was not enough for me to know this; I had to do it. I had to take the time for Him. Ah, so well worth it. I’ve never regretted a minute of quality time spent with the Lord, because when I’m with Him, I always feel loved.

Accepting quality time from the Lord was relatively easy for me, but not only is that not my only concern, it may be a minor concern for some people. Time is by no means the only way of giving or receiving love. Next the Lord took it to what, for me, was an even deeper level. I was feeling resentful about all I had on my plate, with no help in sight, and He began to teach me about acts of service (which happens to be my secondary love language). He wants to do things for me.

There are a multitude of ways in which the Lord can do things for us, but they all require one thing: submission. In order for me to receive this kind of love from the Lord, I absolutely, positively must submit to His doing it His way, and in His time. Period. I have to recognize that it’s all about love, not about getting what I want, the way I want it, when I want it, by the means I choose. He likes some suspense and surprise. Actually, He likes a lot of it. But, oh, wow, how loved I feel when I’ve let Him know what I desire, and then see Him do it for me.

This is true regardless of your "love language." God is love. He loves you. And He’s willing to teach you to receive His love.

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