I am a firm believer in the UNCONDITIONAL love that Jesus pours out on us...and that is the very love that I pray the Holy Spirit will pour out of my life into my children and all those around me. You see, I have alot of people asking me about adoption/fostering, being a sibling to adopted/fostered children, and when the time to walk away is...and here's the deal. There isn't one. Not according to God's Word. Don't think for one second that at times, I have wondered if it would be ok to just stop loving...stop trying...because it is SO hard sometimes. But the Holy Spirit has really been teaching me alot lately and one of those things is that when we have Him in our lives, when we choose to follow Him, surrender to Him...He just fills our heart with His love and it begins to flow out and we cant stop it. And it doesn't matter if we are dealing with an angry teen, an adult who continues to make bad choice after bad choice, a child who spews hate and seeks to hurt all around them, a homeless person who chooses the drug over a life...it DOESN"T matter. This is why...because they are the ones who need His love.
I think about His love and how easy it is to love those that speak goodness into our life. How easy it is to extend kindness and grace to those that bless us. We feel they "deserve" the love,that they have earned it by their actions...but friends, that is the exact opposite of what God's love is. God's love is not based on our actions, on how "good" we are. I was saved by God's grace. I did nothing to deserve it. I could never be good enough to earn that salvation that I desperately needed...and since that day when I surrendered my life to His will at six years old, I have sinned against Him every day....and yet...His love is still there. It still pours into me and flows over me. So to extend anything other than that same love would be hypocritical of me. The love I receive every day in all its fullness is mind blowing! I have learned that nearly all of the people who resist His love the most, are the very one's who are hurting the most. They are broken, they are hurt, confused and searching...and when they see us put " conditions" on our love they then think that is how Christ must feel about them as well. That breaks my heart. So even though many times my heart aches, my eyes burn from crying, and my soul feels like it is crushed...I will keep on loving. I will take time to step back and look into the heart through His eyes and see the hurt and then I will keep on loving...just like He does.
This about surrendering to His love. Opening your heart and receiving His love and letting it flow out of you. We have  all heard the saying," Love is the gift that keeps on giving"...but it is true. But only if it is His love being reflected through us. We just can't do it on our own. We let petty, silly things cause us to get angry. We allow our hurt feelings to dominate our relationships and we put those ever crazy "conditions" on our love...so I will challenge you as you read this. I challenge you to drop it. To let it go. To forgive. To truly love...no matter what is done to you or against you. Just love. And don't look for the "time" to walk away...look for ways to extend more love. I promise that if you do the love will just continue to grow in your heart. It will become very evident that it is not "you" that is loving...because we are so incapable of loving unconditionally on our own...but it will be HIM through you. And isn't that what we all long for as believers? To be consumed by Him in every area of our life? I hope that answers the questions that have been asked lately of when I will be " done" with all this...I won't be. I will keep loving, keep trusting, keep believing, and keep learning more of this great Love that lives inside of me...I hope you will too!

This is the very first blog I have ever written...so let's see how it goes:) Today I am reminded of just how much we need hope. All of us. We live in this world that tends to be so dark and angry all the time and we need hope...Hope to know that this is not all there is. Hope to know that we are not going through everything alone. Hope to know it is all worth it in the end...just hope. It is such a small word...but so very powerful. As an adopted mom there are many days when the struggles our children face seem so hopeless...the battle within for truth. It can be exhausting. Maybe for you, it's the money that never seems to be enough to cover the bills, or the marriage that is falling apart. We all have that " thing" we deal with that tries to suck out our hope...I see just how hopeless people are everytime I turn on the news. The famous people in rehab, the hurting people in war zones, the frustrated people dealing with every day life...and it always makes me stop for a second and pray that I will be able to show the Hope that they are searching for. 

          You see, the Holy Spirit reminds me that the God who kept the lions mouth shut for Daniel, the God who kept the fire from burning Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from touching them, the God who kept Jonah alive for three days and nights inside a fish, the God who called Lazarus to come forth after being dead for three days, the very same God who gave up His only beloved Son for me and my children's brokenness...this God has not changed. This God has not somehow forgot all of us or is choosing to ignore us in the year 2013...no...Our God has poured out His spirit on us that we may walk every single day with His spirit living inside of us! We have so much to be hopeful about! We have God's own Words that we can pick up and read every day...I wonder so many times why we allow ourselves to lose hope. As Christians, this is the very thing that Satan is after...our Hope. He knows if he can take that away we then turn inward and start feeling sorry for ourselves, we start comparing our lives to others only to have our life come up lacking...but my friends, we have been given the tools to fight him with! We have been given Eph. 6:10-20 to know what to do when those fiery darts come at us...so let us pick up our weapons and let us start fighting like the warriors we are! My spirit hurts within me when I see my fellow sisters and brothers falling in battle because they are losing hope. I know what it is like to stand there...look around you...and want to give up, walk away, accept the depression...I have been so so close to that so many days...and every time God sends someone to remind me of our hope in Him. 
        
              I think the main thing is to no feel alone. We are not alone...and I'm not just talking about God who is with us...I am talking about our family. Our brothers and sisters in Christ who surround us with prayer, encouragement, and...well....hope. My pastor's wife has always said something that I never truly understood until recently..." We are stronger together." It's true. We are. When those darts are coming at us, and we are isolated and alone, we are much easier prey...but when we stand together...it is very hard to lose hope when you have someone standing next to you, fighting beside you. So my friends...today as you read this, I hope you see the hope of today. Maybe you even need to break it up into just this moment...and then the next....here are the words of your Father speaking straight to your heart..." Find rest, O my soul, in God alone, my hope comes from him." Psalm 62:5