You Are Loved

I have been reading a book by Jane Kirkpatrick call A Name of Her Own.  It is historical fiction about the first mother to cross the Rocky Mountains and remain in the Northwest.  The person is real, but the thoughts are those the author attributes to her.

In her thoughts, she often blames herself, sells herself short, and does not recognize her worth and value or the good things she is accomplishing.  Maybe one reason these thoughts are believable is that they are familiar.
 
I think we all do this at times.  They ring true because we struggle with similar thoughts and feelings.  It’s funny, hearing someone else think like that, I want to shout, “No! Don’t believe it!”  Why is it so much harder to recognize similar things in my own thoughts?

Since I have been forging forward mostly successfully with some new goals this year (like writing twice a week), I have gone from feeling excited about successfully completing things I would like to on a regular basis, to sometimes feeling discouraged even though I am completing them.  Why would that be?

I’m not sure, but I know I need to keep pressing forward despite it.  So, I’m writing to myself today.  Trying to find some truth to help with perspective.  I’ve been looking for quotes (scripture and other) and I’ll share them here.

• “God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.” —Martin Luther
• “Though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not.” —C. S. Lewis
• "God loves each of us as if there were only one of us." —St. Augustine
•  “What you are doing I cannot do, what I’m doing you cannot do, but together we are doing something beautiful for God, and this is the greatness of God’s love for us—To give us the opportunity to become holy through the works of love that we do because holiness is not the luxury of the few.” —Mother Teresa

 

• John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
• 1 John 4:8–9 “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.”
• Romans 5:5 “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
• Romans 8:37–39 “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• Proverbs 8:17 “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.”
• Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.”
• Psalm 86:15 “But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.”
• Isaiah 41:10 “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

 

• Thomas S. Monson- “Your Heavenly Father loves you—each of you. That love never changes. It is not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by your talents and abilities. … God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there” (“We Never Walk Alone,” Ensign, Nov. 2013, 123–24). 
• Dieter F. Uchtdorf- “…the most powerful Being in the universe is the Father of your spirit. He knows you. He loves you with a perfect love.
• God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small planet who lives for a brief season—He sees you as His child. He sees you as the being you are capable and designed to become. He wants you to know that you matter to Him.”
• Dieter F. Uchtdorf- “Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God’s love encompasses us completely. … He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken”
• Ezra Taft Benson- “God, our Father; Jesus, our Elder Brother and our Redeemer; and the Holy Ghost, the Testator, are perfect. They know us best and love us most and will not leave one thing undone for our eternal welfare.”
• Gordon B. Hinkley- “Our Eternal Father lives. He stands as the great God of the universe, ruling in majesty and power. And yet He is my Father, to whom I may go in prayer with the assurance that He will hear, listen, and answer.”
• John Groberg- The more we obey God, the more we desire to help others. The more we help others, the more we love God and on and on. Conversely, the more we disobey God and the more selfish we are, the less love we feel. 
• Trying to find lasting love without obeying God is like trying to quench thirst by drinking from an empty cup—you can go through the motions, but the thirst remains. Similarly, trying to find love without helping and sacrificing for others is like trying to live without eating—it is against the laws of nature and cannot succeed. We cannot fake love. It must become part of us.