It's All Love

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"Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people he has made?"

        Francis Chan is one of my all-time favorite authors. I find it incredible that he can convict me and encourage me at the same time. If you have never read one of his books, I would strongly encourage it! When I read this quote for the first time, I just stopped. I felt a little tug on my heart, so I went back and reread it. Once. A second time. Again and again until it began to sink in. I rearranged the quote in my head, taking it apart and putting it back together. Nothing I do will ever matter unless my driving force is love. Nothing. I could save someone's life. I could end world hunger. I could do anything, but love is the key. It's all love. This realization kind of freaked me out at first. If love was to encompass all I did, how in the world was I suppose to have enough love? How much could my heart take before it ran out, or exploded?
        But here's the best part: I will never ever run out of love, because I don't have to supply it. It doesn't come from me, it comes from God. My source of love is Love Itself. How mind-blowing is that? (Check out 1 John 4:7-21 and also the song John316 by Jekob for encouragement!)
        One of the most important things you should know about me is that God has given me an overwhelming passion for missions, especially in Africa. I have been to 3 different countries: Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya, and have fallen completely in love. It is funny, because how people describe being in love-thinking about the other person all the time, getting butterflies before you see them, not being able to stop smiling when you're around them-is how I feel about Africa, except rather than 1 person, it's a continent of people. Billions of people. And let me tell you, I am head over heels. 
        Here is an excerpt from my journal a week ago when I was in Kenya about what I was feeling. (Hold on to your hats, because you are about to jump into my head, and it could get a little crazy!)

 

"It is just so beautiful. The sweetest sensation, the purest, strongest love that breaks you in half while at the same time makes you happier than anything else in the world. It makes you want to run, run, run and dance and twirl in circles and at the same time it pulls you to your knees in awe and silence. It bursts forth from you while at the same time hiding in the smallest corners of your heart. It is like nothing else in the whole world. It is absolutely breathtaking, and at the same time breathes life right into your soul. A feeling, an experience like that, that touches every part of me in the most tender way, can only come from the One who created me." (June 16th, 2013) 

        Yep, that pretty much sums it up. An awesome, merciful God who somehow found it in Himself to love me, a messed up teenager, and now that crazy, abundant love overflows from me. There is nothing I want more than to spend my life wrapped up in His love, devoting myself to showing that same love to others, and trying my absolute best to follow in His footsteps.

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