Just five years ago, I found it difficult to say, “I love You, Lord.” I believed in Jesus, I believed in God, but I felt that my love was so imperfect that to say those words would be hypocritical of me. How could I say I loved Him when in my life, He didn’t seem to be my priority and I knew I wasn’t totally surrendered to Him. I would say instead, “I want to love You, Lord, so in my imperfection, accept the little love that I have for You.” I wondered how easy it was for others to profess their love for God, yet deep within me, I envied them. I wanted to be able to honestly say that I loved my Lord.

My journey the past five years have been the most meaningful for me. God had to take me away from the distractions of life in the United States and take me to a rural area in the Philippines. God had to show me that I really had no control of my life, and the wisdom I possessed the majority of the time was based on worldly wisdom, which I had been so proud of. And He continues to correct me in this area. The more I knew Him, the more I desired to follow Him. Now I am a first-hand witness of God’s promise that if we seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him. He revealed Himself to me, and He is such a loving God, so trustworthy, and so faithful.

I could not say then that I loved Him because I knew very little about Him. I failed to recognize the interventions He made on my behalf, and looking back, He had been guiding me all along, chastening me where needed because He loved me. When someone loves you so much, you can’t help but love Him back.

As the song goes (Goodness of God, Bethel Music),

“All my life You have been faithful.
All my life You have been so, so good.
With every breath that I am able
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God.”

Now I can humbly and honestly say, “I love You, Lord.” Yes, my love is imperfect, but I know that in my imperfection, He accepts the little love I have and will make it grow. With His help, I will follow Him.

I JOHN 4:19 NKJV
“We love Him because He first loved us.”

JOHN 14:21
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”