The Depth of God’s Love

I’m thankful that’s not the truth, and I don’t have to live by feelings. God’s Word, the Bible, tells us how much He loves us.
Remember the most memorized verse in the Bible, John 3:16? It shares God loved us so much that He gave His only Son to pay a debt I owed, and give me eternal life.

God’s love goes even further. He loves us so much that He hears our cries, and our prayers. Not only that, He answers them. It might take more time than we anticipate, or He answers us in ways we don’t expect,
or understand, but He does answer them.

I’m speaking from personal experience here. Truthfully, life for me lately has felt like going through a knothole backwards. I understand
life has struggles and isn’t all about what I want, but the past couple of years, I’ve related to the Israelites trapped on three sides by the Red Sea and the other by the Egyptians chasing after them, more often
than not. Our trust and faith is present, but we’re clueless as to how and when God is going to answer our prayers.

To cope, I do what most Christians do – keep praying, listen to praise music, and read God’s promises. But mostly, I prefer to think on answered prayers of mine from the past, or victories from answered prayers in the Bible. In addition, I recall God’s miraculous timing in our life and those we’ve ministered to.

Lately, I’ve thought more about the blog series, “From Mishaps to Mission” I wrote about at the end of last year. This action-packed bus adventure  illustrated many lessons, but it was the end I can’t turn
off from playing in my head. The salvation of a young woman named Mary. This act, in itself, shown how God heard her cry and brought her a solution through my husband’s presence. True love. . . deeper than we
could ever imagine.

It was easy for readers to cheer right along with Mary, without giving a thought to the great lengths it took to prepare her life and Steve’s to coincide at a specific moment. . .a moment he couldn’t have planned himself. This took God’s orchestration. Divine intervention for sure.

Did you realize not only did Mary have to hit rock bottom, get help at a Christian place for the homeless, but she also had to decide to move to Nashville and hop on a bus landing her in the same town, same station as Steve. She also had to be walking by him among lots of people. He, on the other hand, had to have been asked to preach a
revival in Mississippi by someone who had an old car at the same time Steve was in need of one. After several efforts of not finding another way to drag this car back to Kansas since his blind wife wasn’t allowed
to drive, he had to ride a bus. Now, buses sometimes have delays, but not from rerouting due to a hurricane blowing in.

Even with this amount of orchestrating, this wasn’t where the story began. God began the work years before, illustrating the depth of His love. Travel with me for a moment.
to discover what I mean. You will see how deep God’s love was for Mary.

He is the best choreographer of all times. You see, a man named John lay in a hospital bed in Tupelo, Mississippi. This was three years ago. Another pastor named Don, came to visit John. Being from different
denominations, they conversed about their beliefs and the Bible.During this friendly conversation, John shared about a fellowship he belonged to, sparking interest in Pastor Don. John scribbled something on a note pad from his tray and handed it to Don. “I’ve never met this man, but he is the General Superintendent of where I am licensed. Give him a call and he’ll be able to answer your questions.”

Thanking John, Pastor Don tucked the number for Steve Fellers in his Bible, and forgot about it when he returned home. Six months passed. Pastor Don sat at his desk, scrolling FGCI’s website. Before closing
the computer window, he captured Steve Feller’s phone number and gave him a ring. Many questions were asked and answered over the next hour.

Don was quite interested in joining. Even so, another year passed with no contact between the two. Passing through Kansas on a trip Pastor Don and his wife took to South Dakota, they decided to give Pastor Steve a ring. They were able to meet face-to-face over breakfast. Before saying goodbye,  Pastor Don invited Pastor Steve to preach a revival at his church. A date wasn’t set yet though.

Additional conversations pursued over the next six months, before selecting a date for the revival. September was chosen. Driving his own pickup from Kansas, no one could imagine Steve would be riding a bus the night after the revival ended. After all, Steve had no idea he’d be given a car when going to preach. God had it all planned for Mary, so that Steve would be at the right place at the right time, for Mary to receive salvation.

So often we think about what’s wrong and miss the miracle in the making. We feel alone and abandoned, when God knew what would be coming down the pike and has our answers already in the making. That’s how
deep His Love is for us.

I’m not sure what struggle you’re facing today, but I can guarantee He loves you more than you’ll ever know. . .more than you’ll ever imagine. He has heard your cry and is working on the answer. Don’t give up.
Nothing is too difficult for our Lord. The answer to  your prayer might be the greatest testimony to glorify Him, the way the parting of the Red Sea did for the Israelite’s.

QUESTION. They say hindsight is 20/20. Can you think of a time, or situation where God had to coordinate a lot in the process of answering one of your prayers? We’d love for you to share a testimony in the comments below so everyone can be encouraged.

I appreciate your reading and sharing this with your friends. I pray this post encourages you to trust God with your struggle, knowing He’s working on the answer right now.