A Personal Reflection
I’ll admit it: for a long time, I didn’t really believe I could feel God’s love in a way that was tangible. I knew the verses, heard the stories, but it always seemed like something that happened for other people. Not me. Not in my ordinary, sometimes anxious, sometimes messy life.
But then there was this one night—one of those nights where sleep just wouldn’t come and every worry felt bigger in the dark. I remember sitting at the edge of my bed, feeling small and honestly, kind of lost. I reached out, almost without thinking, and prayed, “God, if you really love me, please let me feel it. Just for a minute.”
What washed over me wasn’t a lightning bolt or a booming voice. It was quieter, but somehow so much more real. It felt like being a kid again, safe in my dad’s arms after waking from a nightmare. I remembered how, as a child, I never questioned if I was protected or loved—it was just there, solid and sure. That’s what God’s love felt like in that moment: a deep-down security, a warmth that told me I could stop bracing for the worst and just rest.
The Bible puts it like this: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1, NIV). Lavished. Not measured out in tiny spoonful, but poured over us until we’re soaked in it.
I realized, sitting there in the quiet, that God’s love for me wasn’t fragile or conditional. It was the kind of love that never wavers, never doubts, never disappears, even if I mess up or don’t feel “spiritual enough.” Romans 8:38-39 (NIV) says, “Nothing… will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Nothing. Not fear, not doubt, not even my own uncertainty.
Sometimes I wish I could give that feeling to everyone I know—the sense of being so completely safe, so fully accepted, that you don’t have to perform or pretend. Like a child who never wonders if the arms holding them will let go.
If you’ve never felt that kind of love, it’s not too late. You don’t have to earn it, and you definitely don’t have to be perfect. Just ask—honestly, like a child would ask a parent—and let yourself rest in those arms, even if just for a moment.
When I doubt, I try to remember that night, and that feeling. I remember that God’s love is more real than my fear, more constant than my moods, and more devoted than anything else I’ll ever know.
You are loved—completely, securely, forever. Like a child in a father’s arms, you can rest. That’s the truth God wants you to feel, not just know.
CLOSING PRAYER
Father God,
Thank You for loving us with a love that never fails, never runs out, and never gives up on us. Help us to open our hearts and truly receive Your love—not just as an idea, but as a real and living presence in our lives. Remind us, even in our doubts and fears, that we are Your beloved children, held securely in Your arms.
Let Your love settle deep inside us, bringing peace where there’s anxiety, hope where there’s discouragement, and joy where there’s emptiness. Teach us to trust in Your care, to rest in Your embrace, and to share this love with those around us.
May we always remember that nothing can separate us from Your love. Wrap us in it today and every day.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.