Hello! I'm Amanda. I'm a Christ-follower, and my favorite things to do are read, write, sing, swim, and play with my cats. :) I appreciate you taking time to read my thoughts! In case you were wondering about the title of this blog, I simply chose it because love is always the answer. Anything can be fixed with love, and nothing is anything without it. :) Whether you are a Christian or not, I hope that my posts encourage you, as well as help you gain different perspectives. Have a spectacular day, and don't forget how loved you are. :)

Monday, July 14, 2014

Dear...

Dear Satan,
You are so right. I am a failure. But you know what, my God is not. So be quiet. The Holy Spirit lives in me. The power that already defeated you surrounds me every minute of every day of my life. I have an army of angels with my Savior on the front line in front of me. You have a prison gate in front of you. You can whisper to me to break down, give up, crumble, shatter, fall, give in, kneel before you, trip into your never ending pit of deceit and despair--but while you are whispering that in my ear, I hear God's voice over you speaking this in my ear: I am your foundation, Savior, lover, forgiver, provider, healer, army, protector, prince, king, infinite wall, fort, bridge. 
You can chop me down, but I’ll just get right back up, because my base is still there. You can beat me down to the bottom, but I’ll rise right back up to the top on the shoulders of the Lord. You can convince me that I am worthless, but God will still know that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and He will never stop reminding me that. Yes, I know, you will also never stop reminding me that I’m worthless, but that’s the great part. God is louder than you are. Because God created the universe. And that same guy that created the universe and every detailed thing in it, loves me unconditionally. My God is always by my side, and all it takes to frighten you away is His Name.
I am part of the body of Christ. I have thousands of brothers and sisters who will hunt you down if you even touch me. I have a God who, if you can believe it, is even more reliable than that. Remember that time my Defender triumphed over you? Of course you remember, because it’s happened countless times. And you're a fool if you think that is going to change someday--because it won't.
I will mess up. I mess up every 5 seconds. But that’s just about where you stop laughing, because my God has an abundance of grace to offer. If your goal is to separate me from my Heavenly Father, don’t even bother. It’s not possible. God said so Himself, I know for a fact that the God of the universe does not lie. 
Dear God,
Thank You. Just for everything. Thank You for being there for me at every moment. Thank You that You are such a faithful rock and foundation for me to rely on. Thank You that You forgive endlessly and I don’t have to worry about You leaving me in my filth and shame. Thank You for caring enough to not only die for me, but to come back to life. Thank You that You are my healer, protector, prince, king, guider, forgiver, lover, foundation, provider. Thank You that Your love and grace and mercy never fails, because I know I fail every minute. I could never be perfect, so thank You that You are. Thank You for lifting me up in my weakness and defending me against evil and darkness. Thank You for having compassion towards your creations. You don't have to care about what happens to us--we certainly do not deserve that--but You still do. I want every bit of You and not one bit of the world.
I am genuinely sorry that I don’t pray or read Your Word every day like I should. I’m sorry I don’t spend time with You and try to encounter You, that I don’t follow Your way when I should, that even when I’m convicted by You I continue in my sin. I know that Your grace is not an excuse to sin, but a reason to serve You more fully, and I desire with all my heart to live that out. Thank you for always listening to me and always having time for me. I don’t have the right to make excuses, and I know I was about to say “but”, but I’m going to let that go and realize I need to start saying no to my sin and stop making excuses. Thank You for being my strength and not leaving me to deal with temptation on my own. Your mercy blows me away. Because no matter how many times I shove You away and ignore You, You still love me and I am still Your child. I spend so much time asking for things and making excuses when I should be thanking You for everything You are, since You are literally everything. Thank You Jesus.

"For I am convinced that neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord." ~Romans 8:38-39~

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock." ~Matthew 7:24-25~

--Love, Amanda