Love Dare Day 20

Today's dare for me was easy. DARE TO TAKE GOD AT HIS WORD. DARE TO TRUST JESUS CHRIST FOR SALVATION.

I have already trusted Christ as my personal Savior. And although I walked far away from the narrow road when I was younger, by the grace of God He pulled me back. And I am never going down that road again.

But maybe you haven't trusted Christ. And if you haven't, it's not too late. 2Corinthians 6:2 says Now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation.

Or maybe you have but like I did, you have wandered far away from the Lord. I am here to tell you that if He can pull me back, He can pull anyone back. I had many rebellious teenage years. If you can name it, then I most likely did it. Or at least VERY heavily considered it. Walked right up to the edge of it and peered over. Rarely ever did I consider the possibility that there could be consequences to my actions. I lived in the moment and did whatever my buddies were doing.

Then, I met Frank. How the two of us ever ended up together... Well, it was only God, that's for sure. Because, even though he was (IS) a hottie, he was not the kind of guy I usually went out with. Likewise, I was far from anything like the other girls he had been with. And did I mention that we were about as opposite as opposite can be? Oh yeah. That's right. Night and Day!

I cleaned up my act because I really liked this guy. And some of the changes were real. But they were mostly surface level changes. You see, at the heart of it all, I was still the same person. Still living for myself. It wasn't until about 5 years ago that I got it. I mean really got it.

All through the time I was growing up in church, what I mostly heard about was heaven and hell. And obviously, the latter was not a good choice. But that was it. No one really told me about the relationship part. I mean, sure, I knew all the rules and what I should and shouldn't do, but that was not enough motivation to live for Him. I was still too busy living for me.

I wish I could tell you the exact moment I got it, but I don't. Too many kids and not enough brain cells left! The point is... it wasn't too late for me. All the "stuff" I had done didn't matter anymore. I didn't have to turn my life around and get all cleaned up first. He took me... warts and all.

God was willing to love me, even though I didn't deserve His love and even when I didn't love Him back. He saw all of the things I had done. He saw every imperfection. He knew about every horrible thing I had ever done. And He still choose to love me anyway.

Now, if God could extend that kind of love and mercy to me... to us... then we can extend it to our spouses. After all, all we are supposed to be is an extension of Christ anyway. So we can love even when we aren't being loved in return. We can see all the flaws and imperfections of our spouse. And love them anyway.