Sharing this blog post I first wrote when I was 23. Praying that this blesses and encourages you!
I recently read a quote where someone compared God's love to ruby slippers, those glittery red shoes Dorothy wears in The Wizard of Oz. I don't think any analogy could ever really perfectly describe something as vast and deep as God's love, but I actually liked this comparison.
Here's the quote:"Everything you long for, you've already been given. You're already loved beyond your wildest dreams. You are wearing the ruby slippers. They've been on your feet the whole time."
For most of the movie, Dorothy searches for a way to get home, unaware that she already has what she needs. The ruby slippers she was given are the answer. All along, she's had what she needed. But it took her a while to realize it.
So often we go searching for love when the greatest love has already been given to us - all of us. We're already wearing the ruby slippers. We always have been. But we've lived like we were barefoot, always looking for what we don't know that we already have.
I do think there is a difference between God's love and love from others - and that we need both. While I do believe that God's love is complete and perfect, I also believe everyone needs love from other people too. Even God Himself, after He created man, said it wasn't good for him to be alone, and then He created woman. God wants us to be in relationships with others. To love them with the love He loves us with.
I just think the problem is when we try to substitute love from others for God's love, expecting them to love us as only God can. The greatest love in all the world is the love God has for you and me.
God loves each of us with a love so indescribable and vast and and amazing and that if we could just fathom an iota of it, it would change our lives forever.
God's love is the love every soul longs for. And I believe God designed us that way - with this longing - to draw us to Him, to seek Him, to find Him, and to discover in Him a love that sustains us and heals us and makes us whole.
God's love adds the sparkle and the beauty to our lives, makes every day an adventure and every breath a gift. It allows us to live with joy and peace, knowing that beyond the stardust and the clouds, there is a God who is our Heavenly Father, always watching over us and caring for us. It gives us confidence and strength and hope and everything we need.
And eventually, God's love changes our hearts and lives so much that we have to say something and share with as many people as we can about the greatness of His love so that they could walk through life knowing this.
So that they could take each step aware of the ruby slippers they wear and not spend another second thinking they're barefoot and unloved. So that they would forever know that God has always loved and will always love them. And that that will never change.