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The Heart of the Gospel is Love

 

 

~ Proverbs 10:12 ~

Hatred stirs up conflict, but LOVE covers over all wrongs.

 

Over the course of the past 5 years, I have spent so much time separated in the secret place with the Lord. This is how My Secret Garden actually came to life. It has been a hard "pressing in" of sacrifice and at times quite a painfully beautiful unveiling, as I often have referred to it, but the fruit this produced has been so sweet. When my husband and I made the major move from Colorado to Tennessee it was a move I knew was partly orchestrated by God for my well-being, healing, and spiritual growth. He had to move me geographically to save me from myself. My business had pretty much drained the life out of me and I felt like burnt toast. The only way out was to be removed from my environment totally and have all of my distractions eliminated, it was just me and God.

 

I fell in love with Tennessee much to my surprise, but at the same time it was all so foreign. I had no business which had become my gauge for self- worth (a false worth might I add), I had no friends yet and the familiar territory we were so accustomed to for 13 years was gone. Normally I embrace moving and change as a new adventure, but for many reasons this move scared me and I began to understand why in the months and years to follow. I had longed for a greater understanding of God's love and how to embrace it, something that I had been struggling with no matter how much I spent time with the Lord and in my Bible. Little did I know that God was getting ready to stretch me and my husband beyond what we had anticipated in this new chapter. A purifying that comes with a great deal of stripping away.

 

~ "We are shaped and fashioned by what we love." ~

John Wolfgang Von Goethe

 

As I began to press in and really soak in His word, I discovered areas where I still needed healing from past hurts all the way back to childhood. They came at random times. Often in the middle of the night a memory would surface and I found myself seeking God's assistance for healing. I wept, prayed and worshipped Him. A newness in relationship was growing with God that continued to keep me in pursuit of shedding the "old self" and I gained new footing in just who He had desired for me to become. The veil was torn off and the Diane the Lord created for good things was emerging.

 

We began to make new friends and our spirituality grew in leaps and bounds. What we did not expect was many difficult challenges ahead. As business partner's promises turned sour and betrayal hit us from left field, the result was the destabilization of our financial stability and of course, throw in the pandemic and things got even crazier. Needless to say God covered us in ways we have miraculous testimonies about. Our faith began to blossom into a heavenly faith, something I could never quite get a grasp of before. It resulted in a new understanding of how to rise above circumstances and learning how to walk in the spirit and not the flesh. 

 

Often, I would spend hours in my quiet mornings pressed in, reading the word and just sitting in His presence seeking revelation. I craved it like never before and the good Lord did not disappoint. I was beginning to see just how much He loved us, loved "me". It wrecked me at times. I wept tears of joy that would fill me up to overflowing. It was in this exchange of worship and reverence for Him that He replenished my tired and weary soul and healed the brokeness. And the more I spent in the secret place, the more abundant the flow became. There were days I didn't care if I ever left the house and saw another human being! What God was pouring into me through time in His word was all I needed, and it was enough. Scripture took on new life and I began to take ownership of the power it produced in and through me because of Christ's love.

 

Being Christ-like became our new way of life. And grasping hold of true forgiveness offered up a freedom that can only be found when we look at it from God's perspective and not our human one. This is discovered through a deeper communion with Him and really soaking in the words and lessons of the Bible. He revealed so much to my husband and I when we surrendered our lives over to Him completely. 

 

~ 1 John 4:7-12 ~

Beloved, let us love one another for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only son into the world, so that we might live through Him. If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.

 

 

Through our tough trials while living in Tennessee we began to reap such a bountiful harvest of blessings as we gained new ground on what it meant to put God first and foremost in everything. All decisions great or small were brought before Him and we would pray together for a leading. We wanted to please Him above all else. This sweet spot with relationship is indescribable. It is a place where heaven enters your atmosphere and the world melts away. You no longer are driven by a "please the world" mentality or your own selfish ways, you gain a deep conviction to please God. It changes your life and births a new perspective on what is really important and brings your priorities in line with a kingdom mindset. You are no longer tossed about with the world's perspective and the need to satisfy others. There is no more fence-sitting, you make choices aligned only with kingdom thinking, period. It sets you free from the anchor this world can hold you captive in your growth, your life, and your purpose. 

 

~ James 1:2-3 ~

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

 

I encourage you today, that if you are in a place where your soul is tired and weary and you just want to feel the presence of God and His love surround you, seek Him in a quiet space. Give yourself time with Him even if you have to get up in the middle of the night or drive to a park away from all distractions. Bring a Bible and pray for His unveiling. Ask for His love to fill you up and pray to receive it if you are not good at receiving. Often what has helped me is to sit, invite the Holy Spirit in and thank Jesus for His ultimate sacrifice. Sit quietly for a while and listen, then open your Bible and see where He takes you. Ask for what He is wanting you to see. Try to do this daily and begin to see a shift in your mindset. A new peace will begin to fill the anxious areas in your soul and His love will breathe new life into your heart. Allow Him to heal the broken areas and let Him in completely so He can produce in you the good fruit that He desires for you to be blessed with. Become love as Christ loves and witness a transformation. The heart of the gospel IS LOVE and when we soak in His word and surrend our heart to Jesus we are transformed by the life it breathes into our being and we gain new ground and become love, Christ's love flows in and through us.

 

 

 

 

Be blessed and be a blessing!

Diane :)

The Gospel Speaks Love;

 

*And to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. ~ Ephesians 3:19

*I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for his sheep. ~ John 10:11

*Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ~ Romans 8:35

*We love, because He first loved us. ~ 1 John 4:19

*But whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him. ~ 1 John 2:5

*May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ. ~ 2 Thessalonians 3:5