Discovering Unconditional Love in Christ

Music.

Hey everyone, welcome to Dear Yahweh. And here we're just unpacking biblical truths. I'm sharing personal experiences and I'm diving into real life testimonies of faith. Together we're going to explore how God's word guides us through every season of our lives, helping us grow, heal, and also walk boldly in his love. Maybe this is exactly what you need. Real talk, real faith, and a whole lot of Jesus. Music.

Welcome back, welcome back. I know it's been a little minute, y'all, but I'm glad to be here and I'm glad to be ready to give you guys a new episode. So I'm going to get right into it. This episode is called Discovering Unconditional Love in Christ. Man, when I tell you I'm just sitting in my prayer closet and it just hit me how much we really, you know, take so much time searching for love in this world.

But like, realistically, the thing is we're trying to find it in relationships, friendships, even our careers. But I've realized that there's no such thing as a human relationship or material thing that's going to fulfill that void in our lives. So that's what I'm here to talk to y'all about today. So our creator, the Lord, he adores us, like no matter what condition we're in.

And just imagine like that person loving you no matter what your flaws are, no matter what your past was like, no matter what your current present state is. Like that's the Lord. His love is based on what we do or how perfect we are. He loves us where we are. He meets us where we are. Letting God's love into our lives changed that. You know, just changes you. And it changed me. It helped me find my identity.

It helped me understand that I have the peace inside of me because of him, that I have joy. And it even helped me understand self-value. I know that sounds crazy because a lot of people that have known me most of my life would say, oh gosh, you've been so confident. This, that, and third, man, that was a mask. You never know what people are going through. You know, I used to use vanity as a way to hide, hide behind my insecurities, hide behind my lack of confidence.

And I don't know, just I'm praying that today that this adds to your life, like this podcast episode adds to you, to help you understand how much you really need to rely on God's love, on the Lord's love. So as I've mentioned, I've been there before.

I've been searching for love and validation through the world, from the relationships that I've had, the friendships that I've had, and just getting all my success, the degrees, the certifications, just all these little accolades that we have in our lives. And at the end of the day, we all just want someone to love us and care for us and make us feel worthy. But at the end of the day, the world can't give us the love that the Lord can.

And we often just keep trying to find someone to distill that deep connection and having a sense of belonging. But people are imperfect and they will fail us. And God's love is so pure and constant and there's no conditions. For me, this realization didn't come overnight, night, of course, I had moments where I felt disappointed in myself and unsure of my own worth and I've struggled to see myself the way God sees me.

But in these moments when I felt most unworthy, that's when God was reminding me that he loves me anyway. Like, you know, you get disappointed when someone you really like doesn't like you or you get disappointed when you feel these deep feelings for someone and you want to see them grow, but they don't see it for themselves. And it's like, oh my gosh, what am I doing? And in Romans 5, 8, it says, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus died for us. That's like. There's no greater love than that. Someone dying for us. Someone dying for you. And even when we're broken, even when we're messed up, his love still remains unchanged. He's the most constant in my life. No matter what I have nothing to show in life, any of this stuff, God still loves me. He still loves me. And he still loves you. God's love is truly unlike any other. The world teaches us that love has to be earned, right?

But God says, I love you simply because I made you. Jeremiah 31.3 tells us, I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. this. God's love is eternal. Nothing can separate us from it. Nothing can separate us from God's love. We're imperfect people. We're imperfect people, but he still loves us. One of the most profound lessons that I've learned is that without knowing God's love, it's hard to truly love yourself and others.

1 John 4, 19 says, we love because he first loved us. His love is literally the foundation that we need. We need God's love in order to love other people. We need God's love to know how to love ourselves. We cannot love people if we don't know God's love because he's the example of what love should be. Think about that. Think about that. He is the literally, he's literally the foundation.

He's the foundation. And when I began to understand stand, that he loves me without conditions, I was able to find my identity in him, not in what I could accomplish or what others thought of me. Like that is just, I don't even know how to explain that, but it's a lot to unpack there. But truly at the end of the day, God is literally the foundation of what love is supposed to look like.

And if you don't understand how much he loves you, how could you possibly love yourself and how could you possibly love another, letting the lord love me like really love me changed me in so many ways you know. I stopped striving for validation in other people. I remember I used to like post all the time on social media, like posting pictures, this picture, this picture, this angle, just constantly posting myself.

And it's like, I don't really like to post myself. I honestly, at this point, I post myself online just to like make you guys know that I'm still here. Like, hey, you know, because most of my posts are really just about God.

I don't even like really showing up on camera to talk. I'm getting more into doing this because I need there's messages and there's things that need to be said and and I you know he's giving me the okay to be on camera but I still am uncomfortable with it it's so funny because I used to love being online I used to go live all the time I used to sing you guys know this right if you've been around with me for all these years of social media,

you know, I was like social media queen, loved being on camera. I've always had a camera. I'm always ready to take a picture or a video or I have all these memories. And I love the fact that I was always the person that archives. I have archives for decades at this point. When I'm like 80, 90 years old, God let me reach that age. You guys will see like archives and stuff of me and my best friends and just life of what life was like.

But yeah, it's just so crazy. I used to literally feed off of the likes, feed off of the time. I used to be like, oh, if I don't get enough likes on this post, I'm taking it down. I know a lot of people won't ever admit that, but I literally was like that. If I didn't get enough likes on a post, I took it down. I was like, yeah, I'm going to take it down. I didn't get enough on here. Nope, I got to delete it.

So yeah, like I used to just find validation in other people and what other people had to say. And yeah, like- Now I'm just like, I don't really care about that stuff. Like, you know, I'll post here and there. Hey, put a smile up, you know, whatever. But it's just, it is what it is. I also found joy even in difficult times. You know, recently I've been really sick. I'm still sick right now as I'm recording this episode. I have COVID. But I have so much more energy. You know what happened?

This whole time I've been sick I've been praising God this whole time my dad's been back in the hospital I've been praising God I've been sitting with one of my mentees I've been praying I've been worshiping I've been watching sermons I've been doing my notes I've been consistent in my walk in my faith with the Lord despite what it feels like and despite what it looks like and then And something hit me as I was reading Jesus Calling the other day,

and I'm just opening it up real quick because it just came to my mind just now. But what we were listening, what I was listening to, Lord, not listening to, but I was reading in Jesus Calling for October, 1st, and it says, in it, it says, rest in me, my weary one, for this is a form of worship. Like, God is just like making sure that we know that we're supposed to spend time resting. And it's so funny because we literally will drive ourselves crazy thinking that we have to do so much.

We run like racehorses. It literally says it. It says, my children drive themselves like racehorses. They whip themselves into action, ignoring how exhausted they are. I was exhausted, y'all. I was like, oh, I'm not taking off of work. I don't have enough sick time, this, that, and a third. No, you know what? Yesterday I was like, I need a day. I need a day so I can sleep.

And you know what? I actually felt rested for the first time since I've been sick, since I got diagnosed on Friday of last week. I've literally finally got rest. I finally felt rested. And then I slept even last night, despite sleeping in the daytime. You know how it goes when y'all be taking our adult naps. When we go to sleep in the middle of the day, we'd be up all night. I was up for a a little bit, but I went to sleep and I had a full night's rest.

Woke up this morning at 3.30 in the morning, like, I'm refreshed. What are we doing? Where are we at? What are we doing today, God? And then this hit me and I was writing a post about God's unconditional love. And it said, no, we're going to make this episode. So this is how you guys are getting this episode today. What?

Yeah. Very impromptu. Very just right in that moment because that's what God does.

So excuse me y'all know I'm not editing this y'all gonna get all this rawness and that's just what it is but yeah so outside of just like accepting and understanding that God loves me I don't need validation from others that I have peace inside that I also have joy in difficult times and then I also found self-worth not in just my accomplishments or my appearance But just the fact that I am a child of God, I think that that is so beautiful. Like, I just think that is a beautiful thing.

And when other people come to that realization, it just makes me so happy to see that people are having that awakening. This verse came back to me. I've shared it on my TikTok actually, Matthew 11, 28 through 30, where Jesus says, come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest, which is what we just read in Jesus Calling, right? Right. So I remember feeling so tired and trying to figure out my own life all the time.

And Jesus just showed me that all I needed to do was just come to him. And you know what was so crazy last night in my prayers? And I didn't even do my major sit down and praying for hours and stuff like that. I literally was laying in my bed and I was like, God, you know, heal me, heal me of what I'm going through. Give me the ability to wake up and be rested. And like I woke up this morning and I feel so great. So it's like, sometimes you just need to go to God.

Just give it to him and be like, hey, can you handle this for me? Because it's just, I'm trying to do a lot of stuff in my own will. And it's just like, it's not working. You got to be honest. You got to be open. You got to be true with God. You can't just like, you know, just be real with him. Like, just be real with him. Talk to God the way you talk to your friends without cursing. Please don't curse God.

Don't be coming over here going off on Lord. But also make sure that you, you're just, just, just be transparent. He can, he, he can hear your thoughts. He can see your thoughts. He knows what's in your heart. So it's like, if you don't say it out your mouth, he knows you're thinking it. So just say it, like, just let it out.

But yeah, like, I don't know. I just, today's, today's episode is pretty short and I just really wanted to come in here and just talk to you guys about just what unconditional love looks like with the Lord. Again, the world is constantly telling us we need to do more and more and do more to be loved and this, that, and third, but God's message is just simple. Just be with me and let me love you. Literally, just be with me and let me love you.

So I wanted to leave you guys with some practical steps on embracing God's love, right? So how do we embrace this kind of love? How do we let God love us fully, especially when we might feel unworthy? There's so many of us that feel unworthy of God's love because of the things that we've done, the things that we're doing, the things that we want to do.

And realistically, we've all been there. I've been there. I just told you guys, I've always felt unworthy of certain things. I've always felt less valuable. I felt like, why would God want to use me? But this is God. This is what God does. This is what he does. So one, spend time with him. I know it sounds simple, but just spending time in prayer, worship, and in the word. Guys, open your Bibles. Open your Bible. You don't have a physical Bible.

Please tell me. I will send you a Bible. Seriously. But get the Bible app. Listen, you can get online and go to BibleGateway.com and read the Bible there. There are so many ways to access the Bible, but I really, really urge you guys to physically get Bibles. We won't be able to have access to these soon. Please have a physical Bible, pocket Bibles, whatever. I have so many Bibles. Y'all don't even understand. I got so many different versions of the Bible.

I even have an Ethiopian Bible. Shout out to my mom for buying me that because what? I'm so excited. Can't wait to really dive into that one. But yeah, get a Bible. Okay. Spend time in prayer, worship, and get a Bible so you can read the word. It makes a difference. Roman 8 reminds us of who we are in Christ, beloved, chosen, and never separated from his love. Number two, reflect on his promises. When I struggled with the feelings of disappointment in myself, I clung to certain scriptures.

Certain scriptures would come to mind, like 1 Corinthians 7, 20 verse 20, verse 20 through 24, where Paul reminds us to remain in the place of God when he has called us. I talked about this. I don't, I think I posted about this on one of my platforms and that is where he will be. Meditate on these promises and let them remind you of his constant love. Number three, ask God to show you how he sees you. In prayer, literally ask God to reveal his heart for you.

When I began praying like this, he started showing me things I had literally never seen before. Like y'all, he would drop stuff into my spirit and I'd be like, oh my goodness, what? So he helped me see me through his eyes and it changed my approach on my life and my relationships with people. Like for real, nobody can value you more than you value yourself and how God values you. So if you value yourself the way God values you, you'll never let somebody else value you less.

And the fourth one is community. And this is something I'm still struggling with, because I am pretty much physically alone in Texas. I'm not alone. I just don't have the community that I thought I was supposed to have. But I'm coming to terms to understand that God had me here for a reason. And it was something bigger than what I thought it was. And I've learned to come to terms and be okay with that.

But with community, you have to surround yourself with people who remind you of God's love, whether it's friends, family, or a group of believers. I don't know if you guys remember from one of my previous episodes, I talked about going on a 90-day devotional with a bunch of ladies randomly from online. And it really made a difference. Having a community will help you keep your eyes on God. And when you start to forget who you are in him, that they will help you remember.

So these are like four big key important things.

So that's just really it. I just wanted to drop this on you guys. And I really hope you enjoy this episode. As I wrap up today's episode, I just want to remind you that Jesus just wants you. He doesn't need perfection. He doesn't need a performance. He just wants you to come to him as you are and let him love you. His love is unconditional and life changing. So I just want to leave you all with a prayer. And yeah. So Father God, thank you for your unwavering, unconditional love.

Thank you for loving us in every season. even when we feel unworthy. I pray that you touch the hearts of everyone that's listening today and remind them that they are your beloved children. Help them to find rest in your love, find their identity, peace, and joy in you. Draw them closer to you, Lord, and show them that your love never fails. Let them know that you will always be there, that you will never forsake them, that you will never leave them.

Remind them who they are and show them who they are from your perspective, from your eyes, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Music. Thanks for joining me today on Dear Yahweh. I hope this episode has blessed you and given you something to reflect on as you continue your walk with Jesus. us. If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe, leave a comment or two, and then share it with someone that needs encouragement.

And remember, you can always visit my website, crystalclearfaith.com, where you can purchase journals, sign up for mentorship, as well as prayer sessions with me one-on-one. Until next time, stay rooted in his word and never forget, I love you, but Jesus loves you more.