It's In That New Identity | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: It's In That New Identity | Previous Challenge Entry
By Penny Neimiller
03/19/15
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES

I am sixty years old, and I am still learning about “love.”

My earliest memories of “love” are my mother and grandparents telling me that they “loved” me. I figured they did because they fed me, and I “loved” to eat.

I remember “loving” to play in the sand, and dressing up in my mother’s slips and high heels.

I “loved” my pets: ”Quackers,” the duck...”Patches,” the cat...
and “Puppy,” the pig. (Just kidding, wanted to see if you were paying attention.)

I “loved” to swim, climb trees, and I really “loved” to go to dances.

At an all too early age, I “loved” the boys and had lost track of all the different ones I had thought I would have “loved” to marry.

I “loved” to paint, sing, and I would of “loved” to have been a cheerleader, like my best friend, Emilia...and Oh! Of course...I “loved” her.

In the middle of all this, at around the age of eleven, I ask Jesus into my heart and I “loved” Him too; but other than a few minor changes, there were only questions and confusion about the kind of “love” I heard about in Sunday School and read about in the Bible.

In my teens, I stayed true to what I was taught, but there was so much I wasn’t taught. I kept the neighborhood wondering as they would see me in my tight sweaters and mini skirts prancing about like a wild horse with no training. I had been trained, but it was by misdirected parents that was just as confused as I was, about the real meaning of “love.”

My priorities for most of my life, were about me. I knew the Lord “loved” me, but I did little to develop my relationship with Him.

A routine I followed was that of reading my Bible and saying a prayer before going to sleep. I did this most of my teen years, but one night at the age of 18, the words in the “Lords’ Prayer,”“Thy Will Be Done...” convicted me. I realized then, that I had been praying for “my will” to be done.Tears of repentance flowed down my cheeks and the changes in my heart were real.

Soon Jeff and I started to date. We had been close friends since the seventh grade, and it was with in a few short months he asked me to marry him. Being sure I was “in love,” I said yes!

Over the years we were blessed with two children and many great memories. I remain thankful and convinced that our marriage was in God’s will, even though things didn’t turn out the way I thought they would.

“Divorce,” (we would tell the kids in our youth group), “Isn’t in our vocabulary.” Unfortunately, it was in our future. Without going in to detail, I can tell you that through it all, God’s “love” proved to be faithful. He held me and kept me, and I learned more about what “love” is and isn’t during those few hard years.

His love blessed me with grown children and grandchildren that serve Him, and a new partner in marriage, who “loves” me for who I am. We have witnessed God’s “love” manifest in us and through us, as we trust in Him and make Him, our hope.

My understanding of God’s “love” has changed over the years and probably grown the most, in the last ten to fifteen. By spending time devoted to Him alone in study, prayer, praise and worship, I have come to know and experience Him in a way that has left me totally amazed and at times, breathless.

He’s shown me how He sees me. It is in that new identity, that I am able to “love” the way He “loves”...Unconditionally.

You see, when we ask Him to be our Lord and Savior, we are “born again” literally. Spiritually we are born into His family and He is our Father. We are His children. He gifts us with the Holy Spirit so that all that He desires for us to be and to do, is possible as we look to Him, and trust Him to bring it to pass. I have learned that His “love” is more than I will ever fully understand, but I know it is mine, and it is to share with you.

I now understand and believe, 1st John 4:19, “We ‘Love,’ Because He First ‘Loved’ Us.”

PREVIOUS ENTRY | NEXT ENTRY
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE

The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE

JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.