Love from the Inside Out

As I've posted before--I am reading "The Shack" again.
This book makes me think really hard about all of the issues that I bring into my relationship with God.

My trust issues.
My independence issues.
My self-esteem issues.

All of my issues have molded themselves into a concrete-hard barrier that has been dragged, nailed, cemented, glued and sticky-taped into place, meaning that it is no small feat to get that stuff out of the way.

But God.

In Psalms 139 David declares that God knows him--inside and out and that there is no place that David can go that is unknown to God.

It is the same with all of us.I have learned (sometimes the hard way) that there is no place that I can go to hide from God. And if that is true (and it is )--and God knows me inside and out--then His love for me cannot be based on anything other Him--because I have issues. Trust issues, independence issues, self-esteem issues.

God's love has a way of getting around all of the issues in my life. Even though this barrier is tall, wide and deep---God's love has proven to be taller, wider and of more depth than my issues. He continues to love me despite all of the walls I have erected to keep myself "safe".

God's love is not based on me or my ability to be loving or even my desire to love--God's love for ME is solely based on HIM.

He is love. He cannot be anything less than love. So, when I open my heart to Him, my heart becomes saturated, enveloped, wrapped and swaddled in Him---perfect love. That is love from the inside out. And it is only this type of love that has the power to destroy the barriers that I have built.

This barrier, once so huge that I could not see over it or around it, has all been knocked down and now the pieces lay as stepping stones, a bridge, that leads to a deeper relationship with God.

Love from the inside out. Pretty cool.