How do you know God loves you?

The question was posed to me today, how do you know God loves you?   It was in a bible study setting, but it kind of took my breath away.  I immediately thought, i don't know how I would answer that to someone.  I don't have a miraculous story of conceiving a child after sterility, or curing of cancer, or anything really monumental like that.   How do I know God loves me?  I have asked him for monumental things in my life, but I have never received them, so how do I know that God loves me?

Then it occurred to  me, that I know God loves me because of the unanswered prayers.   I wouldn't say i've had an easy life, and often times I have asked God to make situations different, or to give me something.  He didn't.  But, what if he had?   If I had gotten all I asked for, i would not be the same person.

Even recently I prayed and asked God for a child, I asked him for an almost immaculate conception, or to adopt a baby.  He did not give these things to me, but he did allow me to work with a wonderful youth group, who are so dear to my heart.

However, in not answering that prayer, he answered one I didn't ask for.  He gave me the gift of photography.   He is allowing me to do something that is fun to me, challenging, and at the same time enhances the lives of others.   Had God answered that prayer i asked for, and given me a child, my life would have a different route.  I would not be able to devote time to photography, i would not be so blessed by helping others.

I believe that God has given me the gift of photography to allow me to take care of my family in the future. That I will be able to run a profitable business, that my husband will be able to retire, and i will be able to set my own schedule so that we can enjoy and live life together to the fullest.   It is not a gift that I asked God for, but one he gave me instead of what I asked for.   One that has changed my life.  

How do I know that God loves me?  because I asked for silver and he gave me gold!!!


There are lots of other ways I know God loves me,  He has allowed me to be witness to so many blessings, and has blessed my life in so many ways.

I know people who say things to me like, if there was a God, and he loved me, then "such and such" wouldn't have happened to me.   I have friends who lost children,  friends who lost parents, friends who were raped, or involved in very bad relationships.   and they, doubt that God loves them.  How do I tell them that God loves them?

God never promised us that things would be easy.   He never promised us that there wouldn't be pain.  I have had pain.  I have not had easy.   But all of these things, they serve a purpose, they make me who I am, and that is exactly what God had planned.   God doesn't do things to us because he thinks it's fun to watch us suffer.   When we suffer, God suffers with us, when we cry, God wipes our tears.   It takes a very strong person to realize that God loves us even when things are difficult, even when circumstances are overwhelming.    God loves us, even though we don't deserve it.

Sometimes, it helps me to have a visual.   I think of God's love like a parent whose toddler is just beginning to walk.  Sometimes, you have to let them fall in order for them to learn to walk.   That doesn't mean he loves you less.  It just means he loves you enough to pick you up and wipe away your tears when you fall.


Remember, he loves us though we are not worthy of his love.

miracles are in the eye of the beholder.

I was privileged this weekend to photograph a wedding and a vow renewal.    We've all been to weddings, they are sweet, lovey dovey, and emotional.  However, in this day and age with the divorce rate what it is, I think we often do not see weddings as they are intended, the emotional aspect that accompanies 2 people saying they pledge their lives to each other is nowadays, lost on the guests.  It is a social gathering, something we do, we get dressed up and have fun.   While many weddings, are just as God intended them, they are a commitment of lives, i think we as a general population have begun to devalue that.  

And then, we get to see something like I saw this weekend.

I photographed the wedding, it was of course beautiful and heartfelt, even with a sand ceremony so that the kids were involved in the commitment of this couple to create a blended family and spend their lives together.

Then...

There was a vow renewal.  Now, coming into this day, the wedding was what I thought would be the main focus.  and it was, but nothing was more moving that the vow renewal.      The bride for the vow renewal was the mother of the bride for the wedding.   The groom however, is where the story gets interesting.   The groom for the vow renewal, was a very strong man, a man dying of cancer.   A man, whom family was not sure would live long enough to renew his vows.   This man had a great attitude and a great  spirit.  He was full of personality.   It was an honor to be part of this day with them!  

I was moved, because they were facing what we all know as a possiblity when we get married, but that we hope (and trick ourselves into believing) will never happen to us.   You know that whole "for better or worse, in sickness and health" part of the vows.  Well, they were facing "worse" and "sickness" and still pledging their love to each other.   They took their vows seriously.  They were, at this low place in their marriage, standing up in front of family and friends and basically saying, yes, things are bad, but that does not change the way we love each other.   It was sobering to see.  Kind of brought me to my senses.

My favorite shot from that whole day, was when the groom was watching his bride walk down the aisle.  I wasn't there the first time, but I imagine that he was looking at her just as he did when they originally made these sacred vows to each other.

Now, we all hear the stories about wives who leave their husbands when they are sick, or other various tales of betrayal.   This story goes to show you that things don't have to be that way.  That's not the way God intends them.   The miracle in this story to me, is not that this man lived to renew his vows, he could pass soon, or live a long time, but either way, the miracle is that love still exists just as God intends it to.   That if we just open our eyes sometimes, we can see the beauty in this world that God has laid his hands on, even in times of distress.