Friday, November 13, 2015

Falling in Love with Jesus: God's Infinite Love for Us

Today's devotional reminds me of two songs: "Oh How He Loves Us" and "Indescribable."

God loves ALL of us and His Love is truly indescribableGina Anderson-Ford is here today to testify of God's GREAT, indescribable love which she first discovered at a very young age.

I hope you will enjoy all that she has to share with you today! I know that I enjoyed reading Gina's story! :)

~*~
His Infinite Love…Oh How He Loves Us!

A Falling in Love with Jesus story written by Gina Anderson-Ford

I believe we all have a “Come to Jesus” moment and for many it comes after many life experiences that make Him so real to them. Or for some, it takes an earth-shattering event, or becoming so tired of just being downright defiant in walking their way that their will becomes defeated by the realization, acceptance and the need of His love.

I know I am to focus on the first time I fell in love with Jesus and I definitely can recall that moment! However, my love for Him has developed and strengthened over time and my love for Him is so sweet that I feel like I fall in love with Him over and over again.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is the home of my birthplace. We lived in a row house and our home was centered on the love of Christ. My Dad was an elder of the church and my Mom provided wonderful meals and hospitality to many people every Sabbath after church. Hymns were sung regularly and oh how I loved to sing! We had an elderly neighbor named Mr. 
Williamson, who lived next door to us. He was a widow who was very quiet and lonely. So I saw the need to minister to him regularly at the age of three years old by going over to sing to him and my signature song was “How Great Thou Art”. 

After singing to Mr. Williamson, I would see this lonely old man smile and I would see the joy on his face that I knew God wanted him to feel. Mr. Williamson would always thank me and offer me his favorite marshmallows shaped like peanuts. I wasn’t a big fan of these marshmallows but I would take one and enjoy eating it with him. I always left Mr. Williamson feeling like Jesus was right there with us and with him when I left. Many times after leaving Mr. Williamson, I would go and sing for other neighbors on our block.

“How Great Thou Art” remains one of my favorite songs and when I sing it or hear it, I become full with love and conviction. Connecting with the words of that song at the tender age of three tells me how connected I was with Jesus. I got how magnificent He was and knew I had to share how wonderful He was with others. My empathetic and caring spirit was a direct example of being in love with Jesus.

So I believe that I was a lover of Jesus so early and my countenance even as a little girl fell in love with who He was and what He represented. Being in love with Jesus made me feel safe, happy and thankful for knowing someone who loved me so much that He would die for me.

So loving him while I was a child made my relationship with Jesus steady and it provided me a sense of stability that I never take for granted. The confidence in knowing even when the trials of life and the storms come that I have an anchor that will hold me is so significant.

As an adult, my love has grown for Jesus when witnessing the birth of my children and more recently, His love was expressed with birth of my grandchildren. Seeing the hand of His love and feeling His presence in times when I have felt all alone. Searching for answers to questions or knowing too well the enemy is on full attack and being able to remember how Jesus died just for me is another testament of my love for Him.

It's not just in personal relationships that I fall deeper in love with Jesus. I feel God’s presence most when I sit by the ocean, seeing and hearing the waves, smelling the tropical air while the sun warms my body. Realizing that it is because of Jesus and His indescribable love that I have the amazing opportunity to look out on the extensive ocean and know that I matter, we all matter and thanks to Jesus, one day we will have everlasting life.

Falling in Love with Jesus is hands down, no doubt, the best thing I have ever done!

~*~
Author bio:

Working with Executive Directors of National Associations in Washington, D.C. for more than 25 years, Gina has been blessed to travel the world, immerse in different cultures and orchestrate events and conferences that people fondly remember.

Gina is a consummate and creative event planner who loves people, the Caribbean, entertaining, chocolate, drinking H20, Summertime, Christmas, watching movies, reading and writing, doing jigsaw puzzles, playing games and spending time with her grandchildren ("GiGi’s babies"). She loves 
wearing dresses and heels. Laughing and loving is like breathing to Gina! 

Family means everything to her. She is married to Bernard Ford who she considers the love of her life. Gina is a grateful Mother to her best works (Summer and Brandon) and a loving GiGi to her four beautiful grandchildren – Pierce, Gabriel, Sydney and Ethan. She's also Mom to her precious Thunder, the family yorkie. 
Gina is a firm believer that we can learn from everyone on our life’s journey and that we never know people’s life story, so as God says, we should not be judgmental. Love on people and remember that NOTHING (and no one) can ever separate us from the Love of God! 

1 comment:

  1. Awesome blog post! Gina is an inspiration and I look forward to hearing more from her. What a woman of GOD

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