I had a thought on my mind this week, and I think I have struggled with this concept all my life. That is the concept of love. Before I was saved, I never new the feeling of love. My momma loved me with all her heart, and I know that she loved me more than anything on this earth, but it was a hard love. I didn’t know what a loving family was, I grew up seeing mostly what an unloving family was. I didn’t have great friends, in the sense of loving one another in friendship.

Though I didn’t really know the concept of love, God still gave me a caring and loving heart. When I was young, I would say it was a curse because with a good heart, you always get hurt the most. It is hard for good hearted people, in my own experience, to seek paths of wickedness, vengefulness, or deceitful ways. I’ve always said that was too much work to think that way, because for me, my good hearted nature came first and it was hard to try and bypass that to think evil of someone.

It wasn’t until after I was saved I started to seeing my loving heart as a blessing, though if I’m honest, it is a challenge to see that at times. At times, it’s harder to understand now more than ever before. For myself, understanding God’s love for me, I think I’ve come to the decision that I will never understand. I will never understand because his love for me is beyond anything of this world, it is a love that is 100% full proof and will never change. And I’m thankful for that.

Understanding love with people has become easier and harder at the same time. For myself, it is easier to love someone who has done me wrong and let it go. Before, I could love someone who done me wrong, but without letting go of the hurt and keeping it inside my self. Now, I let God take care of it.

I have had a lot of hurt in my life by people that I loved and I thought loved me. Probably one of the hardest hurt that’s been done to me was I am not able to be buried beside my momma, because the plot was controlled by a relative and I was told I can’t be buried there now. If you knew my momma, this thought was not able to even be existed to think of. However, that pretty much sums up my family and how they do things. My name and character have been drug through the mud; I’ve been accused and called about anything you can think of. Not only mentally put down but on paper as well, having my finances and credit bottomed out that I worked so hard to grow. But that story is for another time.

During this time, I still struggled to see how people I thought loved me could treat me this way. Then one day my sister-in-law told me,

“Maranda, this is not love. I’m sorry but they do not love you. You don’t treat someone you love like this.”

I will never forget that. You don’t treat someone you love like this.

Part of who I am, is that I will never do someone wrong, because I know what it is felt like to be wronged. Since then, discovering God’s love, it is not just to help you love someone else, but for yourself, for the love to cover your hurt and be at peace with those who have wronged you.

That kind of brings me to my blog title. When we have God’s love, why is it so hard to love one another in Christian Love? I’ve heard, ‘I love them, but I don’t like their ways’. ‘I don’t hate them, but etc.’ ‘They don’t want to speak to me, I’ll tell them etc.’

That is not Christian love.

As my sister said, you don’t treat someone you love like that.

For me, it’s a hard line to see, between having love and forgiving, and what some people called being naive to see the good over the bad. I think, when you are done wrong, you take a mental note, assess, forgive (even if it isn’t directly towards that person, you may not have the opportunity) and let go. Though I may be writing to myself, the ‘letting go’ part, I think that’s the catch.

For us to have Christian love, I think it’s important that we let go of the hurt caused by another person, because if we don’t, then we aren’t trusting God to cover our hurt with his love. I know, that is easier said than done, but like I’ve said, I’ve had years of practice. My husband has said I was the best ‘being a bigger person’ he had ever seen. But I can’t take all the credit, it is because of God I can have this love.

Not only do you need love for yourself and for others, but among others. That’s a challenge sometimes for me as well. And what I mean by that is, I guess a middle man love. For example, when I was in high school, I had two girls that I was friends with, but they hated each other, to the point one wanted to harm the other if given the chance. It was extremely hard for me because I wanted to be friends with both of them. Let me tell you, one, that is exhausting work, and two, a phrase that I don’t like to use, but unfair to me. I spent a lot of time emotionally upset going between the two and trying to watch what I say or do or try and make things better when I knew I couldn’t. It was so far that we had a chorus concert, and I couldn’t make it for some reason, but that would leave them both in the same room without me to apparently be in the middle. One of my friends tried to guilt me that if something happen it would because I wasn’t there to stop it. That is not friendship love.

Unfortunately, people in general have not changed today. Unfortunately that is just the world for the most part. We can only control ourself. Another reason to let God take over instead of trying to fix anything outside of you.

I guess I just want to leave you with this question, Are you showing Christian love to the people around you? The people that have done you wrong, have you forgiven them?

Have you let God cover your hurt with His love?

It is a daily challenge sometimes, again, easier said than done, but when you do, Heavenly love is the only thing you want to keep on your mind. And pray for those that have wronged you. Yes, I said pray for them. I have prayed for those that wronged me. (And not in a negative way, in a positive way) I have prayed for friends not to have their hearts hardened. I have prayed for God to put his hand on my thoughts and actions, so that my hurt doesn’t lead me to act hurtful towards others. For God to give me understanding and peace of things, and most importantly to let go of things that open the door for Satan to enter my mind. When you are not in God’s loving thoughts, you are walking into the hands of Satan and his wicked thoughts.

Thinking of heavenly things and love will chase Satan away. Lately, I have been thinking of things God has forgiven me of. Again, I don’t understand but I cry and praise him that he loved me so much and forgives me before I can even utter the words. Because God knows my loving heart, and I’m so thankful for that.

KJV Romans 8:35-39

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, 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 Christ Jesus our Lord.