Embraced by Eternal Love by Klicia Thompson

Soccer practice…graduation announcements…swim lessons…internship schedules…birthday party… workout…kindergarten art…oral surgery…get the tires changed…

My calendar has felt a whole lot of crazy this last month. My mind is spinning and the to-do list never quite gets finished, just transferred to a new list with additional tasks! It seems spring schedules always get so full despite my best attempts to keep life simple. All of these demands for my time and attention leave me feeling worn out. Additionally, this is the first spring that I get to celebrate the “change” – no not that change (although that one is coming) – we begin this year celebrating the change of kids leaving our home for college and beyond. Many of you have walked these waters and know very well the joy on the other side, but my heart is feeling a bit sad to see our eldest head out especially knowing that his brother is just one year behind him!

As he heads out for Chicago (in case you didn’t know, that is a very very long way from Vancouver, Washington!), we have a whole host of activities and additional “things to do.” My heart is full of excitement for this milestone, a bit of sadness for me and anticipation of what lies ahead for him.  I seem to find that my emotions are not advantageous for tackling the to-do’s with my normal zest. As the list piles up with the urgent, I have been finding it hard to just sit with my Savior. That is, until yesterday. As I sat down to read and study, I found myself in the very familiar verses of Romans 8. All of a sudden it was like I was reading them for the first time:

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?…No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31-39 NLT

The bigness of God’s love for me. The sacrifice of His love. The power of His love. As I read and quietly sat with God, His strength began to fill me as the depth of His love just overwhelmed my heart. This morning as I re-organize that crazy to-do list, the top reads “Remember how very deeply I am loved!”