How deep is Your love?

I was on my way to bed.

Then I flicked the wrong button to turn off the TV, ended up changing the channel instead and landed in the film, 'The Invention of Lying' starring Ricky Gervais. I almost turned it straight off because I don't really like the stuff he has made since 'The Office' but my attention was caught by someone telling another person some awfully frank and hurtful 'truth' they thought about them! And I thought, 'How cruel!'

I won't go into the telling the story of the film - you can read it here - but it - and the rest of the film made me think about love and in particular, about God's love for me.

This scripture is a prayer - 

that I will KNOW this love that SURPASSES KNOWLEDGE! 

How can I KNOW something that surpasses knowledge? 

One insight I have is that, on my first day of training to be a midwife, back in 1981, our twelve-strong group had a tour around the labour ward. I watched a midwife monitoring a mother in labour - checking baby heartbeats; altering the drip-rate of the intravenous infusion that was hastening labour for this overdue baby; bleeping machines, tangled wires, overactive equipment, accurate instructions, groaning pain, sweaty anxiety - all seemed scarily overwhelming at the time. I thought I would NEVER, EVER be able to be on my own in a room with a situation like this and see a baby at the end - a live baby and the growing of a family! Day one was almost my last day! BUT, I stayed and of course, over the 18 months, with over 50 deliveries to my name, I qualified. I learned - slowly at times but surely and with help. I didn't do it on my own. I had instruction from those with knowledge; guidance from those with experience and sometimes, even their very hands literally on top of my own, guiding me in what I needed to do. The book and brain knowledge of practising midwifery that seemed impossible to contemplate in black and white, all fell into place when experiencing it in actual, live technicolour! 

'Ahh!' I realised. 'THAT's how it feels to...'well, you probably don't want to know but 'hands-on' makes the experience complete and suddenly, the jigsaw builds, the picture gets bigger and clearer as pieces fall into place. 

What seemed, at one time, to surpass MY knowledge - ever becoming a competent midwife - came within my grasp. As my understanding and experience increased - study and practical work - my knowledge increased - I knew better what to do, what to expect and who to ask if I didn't know.
Whilst I don't expect my knowledge of the love of Christ to be anywhere near complete this side of heaven, God opens paths and doors throughout the whole of my life to show more of that love to me.

One of the things I have been learning at ESSL is to appreciate and believe how much I am loved by my heavenly Father. He EXPECTS me to grow in the knowledge of His love for me. He WANTS me to. He goes out of His way to show it to me. What I have to do is to expect, want and receive everything He gives out - and then ask for more...which gives Him a chuckle, I am sure! I am His beloved. I am His joy and delight. He approves of me and accepts everything about me, just as I am. He will never love me more - or less - than at this very moment. He is deep, deep, deep in love with me. One reason His love surpasses knowledge is that, every time I think I know how much He loves me, He shows me more - through a new revelation in His word; through a beautiful sunset or a wonderful smell or taste; through music; through the company of friends and family or even through unexpected kindness of strangers (one reason each of us should try to give a stranger a hug every day!!)
This is the key to then go out into daily life and take that love with me - letting it make a difference in every situation I find myself in. My Father would find joy in seeing me go out of my way, out of my comfort zone and out of my inclination sometimes, if I am honest, to love others. But the thing He wants most, is that I know Him and His love for me because

everything else flows from that.

I will round up with an amazing story of a special touch of God from our mission trip that I talked about in my last post. 

Mike, from the church, myself and another guy who I didn't know and who was going through a hard time, went out on a treasure hunt one day (see my previous post if you don't know what one of those is) We had found no clues and got cold so decided to go to a coffee shop for a hot drink. As we chatted, it turned out that this guy's name was 'Jim'. Both Mike and I had this name on our lists!!! So I said, 'Jim' - it looks like YOU are our treasure!' As we chatted, it turned out that 'Jim' wasn't actually a christian but was indeed on a journey to wanting to know God. So we talked together for a while, with Mike and I sharing a couple of our own experiences of God and telling 'Jim' how special he was to God. He replied that he didn't feel like he was, nor did he feel he was at a point where he wanted to give his life to Jesus. He did, though, let Mike and I pray for him and we ended asking God to give 'Jim', that very day, a special blessing that would show him that God loved him. 

We finished up our drinks and headed back out into the street. 'Jim' popped over to the cashpoint as Mike and I waited some yards back. 

As 'Jim' was returning, he was stopped in his tracks by a stranger who we heard ask 'Jim', "Are you a 'Smiley'?" Mike and I looked at one another and wondered what this was. I confess to wondering if it was trouble? 

Well, it turned out, 'Jim's' surname was 'Smiley' and this guy was a cousin of 'Jim's', that he had never met - nor knew existed - who recognised 'Jim' as possibly one of the family simply from his facial features!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The guys chatted a while and exchanged phone numbers and the cousin went off on his way! 'Jim' came across to us shaking his head in disbelief and muttering the same! 'JIM!', we said, doesn't that just show you how amazing God is? What are the odds of that happening at this very moment and in this very place?? How mind-boggling is our God?! Mind-boggling enough to love us out of our minds, is how! 

So be encouraged. Be on the lookout. God is out to love you

....and who knows who He will use to do it! 

As this song says, 

HE LOVES US