Surrendering to the love of Christ

February is known as the month of love, but can I tell you something? I am not a fan of Valentine’s Day. It has always felt like an overrated marketing gimmick created by businesses to sell their products. However, last year when my 18 year old son, Beau, surprised me with flowers and asked me where I wanted to go to lunch for Valentine’s Day, I felt so loved and appreciated. It wasn’t until I surrendered to it that I was able to really celebrate it.

The feelings I experienced last Valentine’s Day made me think about surrendering to the love of Christ. When we accept it and surrender to it, suddenly it becomes such a precious and personal gift to be treasured and celebrated! When we do, it catapults us into areas we never imagined.

In January at the Hope for Her at Home event, I shared some things that stood out to me from Ephesians 3:14-21:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Paul’s prayer for the church of Ephesus has been a reminder of how the Lord loves us with such an extraordinary love and leads us with immeasurable vision. When I take an honest look at myself, I see how inadequate I am to fully comprehend His extraordinary love and recognize His immeasurable vision. Craig Groeschel reminds us, “There is way more inside of you than you can imagine, and God wants to do abundantly MORE than you can even dream possible in your life. You are capable of expanding your impact and capacity, rather than settling for the status quo.” When I have allowed the Lord to fully use me, I look back and see how He exceeded the limits I placed on Him.

Every day we can pray the same prayer Paul prayed. When we do, we will start to see God do more than we ever could dream possible. Let’s not let the experiences from the past cause us to miss out on His extraordinary love and the “immeasurably more” He offers!

WATCH HOPE FOR HER AT HOME

We would love for you to be a part of the “immeasurably more” that we believe God has for Women’s Empowerment this year, starting with Hope for Her Dominican Republic, but understand many are not ready to travel yet. If you cannot attend in person, would you consider serving these women by giving to one of the projects below? Your generosity will allow us to bless these women “immeasurably more” than they could imagine and feel your love for them even though you are not present.

If you have any questions, please email us at women@missionofhope.com. Thank you for your commitment to seeing women everywhere flourish through Jesus Christ!

Vanessa Johnson on Feb 16, 2021