I wrote this article for iBelieve.com. Start reading about what to do when you question God’s love and then head over to iBelieve for the rest of the article.

To the questioner:

You see the giant highway signs that proclaim, “God Loves You!” but doubt those words could apply to you. Or maybe you grew up singing, “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know,” but recent events have made you question the truth of those lyrics. It could be a great sadness has visited your life and now you wonder about everything you’ve ever believed.

First, let me reassure you, dear friend, that you are not alone in your questions. In this broken world we often find ourselves groping through a fog of doubt and confusion. We long for clarity, yet our hearts struggle to grab onto certainty.

But even while your current path seems to lead through clouds of doubt, God walks right beside you. He knows our frail human natures and never leaves us even when we have difficulty believing that. How comforting to know that His love doesn’t depend on our trust. God’s love is not like the Tinkerbelle fairy in Peter Pan who begins to fade away and is only revived by the audience’s faith in her. His affection for us stays true and certain whether we have the strength to believe that or not. God’s love never wavers or diminishes.

Because God knows your doubts and misgivings, He has written you a love letter. Throughout His Word, the Bible, He has left us messages of His affection for you. Picture a World War II wife who longs to see her soldier husband. She misses his daily presence and when months go by without a word from him she begins to wonder if he still loves her. Does he think about her? Or has he found someone else in some far off country? To silence her doubts she pulls out past letters. As she reads and rereads, her doubts begin to melt. The person who wrote those words would never abandon her. In that same way, we can open up God’s love letter to us to quiet our questioning hearts and restore our confidence in the God of love.

To help you find the words that will renew your trust in God’s love, ask yourself why these doubts have come.

Do you feel that a perfect God could never love imperfect you? Of course He could love the woman next door who has her act together. But you? He probably sees the sticky kitchen floor, the argument you had with your husband, and the pounds you’ve put on and look right past you. If that’s how you feel, read Psalm 107:7-8, “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (NIV). God specializes in loving the imperfect. He looks for the thirsty, the hungry, the ones who need Him. God sees our messy homes, our messy lives and still holds out His open arms. You don’t need to clean up your life or put on makeup to cover your flaws before He accepts and adores you.

Do you feel that God could never love you because of what you’ve done?

Keep reading…

This article first appeared on The Redbud Post an online magazine put together by a wonderful group of Christian writers. Start reading here and click to read 6 ways to live like you’re loved.

I sat at my computer, trying desperately to come up with a few words that made sense. But nothing came. I felt empty. Overwhelmed. Beaten down. I questioned my ability to write. My power to keep going. My worth as a person.

These feelings were not new. In fact, they had appeared so often that I had a go-to remedy for this malady of the soul. I reached for a stack of cards that I keep on my desk and read these words:

“The Lord your God is in your midst,
    a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).

I read each word slowly and meditated on the truth of God’s love for me. God was with me—even in my frustrations. His mighty power can save me—even from my gloom. He rejoices over me—even if I can’t come up with a cogent sentence. He quiets me with his love—his stillness calms my distracted soul. He loves me—so much that he sings love songs to my heart.

I set the card back on the stack and took a deep breath. Words did not magically jump onto the screen. Deadlines did not disappear. But I could cope. I could rejoice in my identity as a beloved daughter of God and work from a place of worth instead of a frenzied state of trying to prove myself.

I was learning to live like I’m loved.

Backward Thinking

For years, I got things all backward.,,Read more.

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And if you want even more spiritual practices that will help you experience God’s love, check out my FREE ebook Live Loved. Click here to learn more.

We hear about God’s love in church and it sounds wonderful and spiritual, but perhaps not terribly practical. We want results and don’t see how God’s love changes you.

I’m an action oriented person. Give me a to-do list and I’ll tackle it until every item has a neat little check mark next to it.

So the idea of just sitting in silence and contemplating God’s love and nearness seems well–not very productive. How can stillness accomplish anything?

During one busy season of my life I decided to try a little experiment. During this period I had a to-do list the length of a football field. Just thinking about the list caused a panicky feeling. So to keep stress from being a frequent visitor, I decided to set a timer to go off every hour. At the sound of the timer, I stopped what I was doing for a couple of minutes and contemplated God’s great love for me. Sometimes I listened to a favorite song about God’s love, sometimes I reviewed words of God’s love from Scripture, sometimes I just closed my eyes and remembered: Jesus loves me.

The results were astounding. My productivity increased with these breaks instead of decreased. Stress wasn’t looking over my shoulder every minute. I remembered I didn’t have to work alone–God was more than willing to work alongside.

This small act of basking in God’s relentless love made such a difference in my day, that I took a look in God’s Word to see what it says about the effects of Divine love. Here are ten ways God’s love changes us.

1. God’s love banishes fear. 1 John 4:18 says:  ^“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear” I noticed that recalling God’s immense love for me chased away the fear of not being good enough. The fear of not pleasing people evaporated because, well, what did that matter if the King of the universe loved me?
2. God’s love gives us strength against Satan’s attacks. Look at Psalm 59:10,17: “My God in his steadfast love will meet me; God will let me look in triumph on my enemies…O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.” We are safe in the fortress of the Redeemer’s love. God’s love gives us the strength to resist Satan’s arrows.
3. God’s love helps us trust. Psalm 13:5 says, “But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.” It’s easy to trust someone who loves you unconditionally. When we think about God’s love our faith grows.
4. God’s love leads us to contentment. One of my favorite verses is Psalm 90:14, “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” When our hearts are filled with the beauty of God’s love, we are satisfied. Cravings of the world fade away. God’s love changes you with fulfillment.
5. God’s love draws us to worship. King David wrote in Psalm 5:7, “But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love, will enter your house. I will bow down toward your holy temple in the fear of you.” When we contemplate God’s love for us, our hearts bow in worship. We enter God’s presence to praise Him for His priceless gifts.
6. God’s love enables us to stay on His path. “For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness” (Psalm 26:3). When I am mindful of God’s never-ending love for me, I am much more confident that God’s path is the best one. I don’t walk in my qualifications or in my competence. I walk in His faithfulness.
7. God’s love gives us the confidence to pray. Psalm 69:13 says: “But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.” Because we know God as a caring Father, we can come to Him as His much-loved children. His unfailing love gives us the courage to come with our debilitating failures, our overwhelming dilemmas, and even our pesky problems.
8. God’s love motivates us to obey. Psalm 106:7 tells us the reason for the Israelites’ rebellion: “Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.” After all God had done for them, how could they forget His love? Yet I often do the same. But when I do bask in the abundance of God’s love, my rebellious spirit is tamed. I’m drawn to follow Love.
9. God’s love in our hearts enables us to please God. “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Psalm 147:11). Just like any loving dad, what pleases our Abba Father most is for His children to curl up in His caring arms–to put their hope not in their own cleverness or ambition, but in His love for them.
10. God’s love helps us to love others. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another” (John 13:34). We are to love others as Christ loved us. That little word as can have a couple of different meanings. It can mean, “Just like I have loved you, I want you to love other people” or “Since I have loved you, you are to love one another.” Loving others in the same way Jesus loved us is a difficult task. It’s made a little easier because God has filled our hearts with His love. God’s love changes you to become a more loving person.

This world is full of conflicts between pleasing God and pleasing others. Our life is characterized by clashes between our spiritual side and the part that simply must type the memo, get dinner on the table, and generally survive in the world.

But I’ve found that the one simple act that helps me win the battle: basking in God’s relentless love.

Next step: Try my experiment. Set an alarm or timer to go off every hour. Stop for a moment. Close your eyes. Remember God’s love. Watch it change you. For more verses on God’s Relentless Love, check out this post.

God wants your heart. His desire for an intimate relationship with you is a bit like my daughter’s yearning for dolls.

You see, when my daughter was little, her heart yearned for Polly Pocket dolls.

I knew this because whenever she had saved enough allowance money, she begged to go to Toys R Us where we could find the newest and cutest Polly doll.

I sometimes wished that she would choose something more worthwhile. I didn’t see the appeal in another little doll. As a practical mom, I hoped she would choose something with more lasting value.

Today when I read Deuteronomy 5:29 for my quiet time, I heard God voice a similar wish for me:

Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever! 

I can hear God’s longing in that verse. To me, it sounds like He’s saying,

Oh Sharla, what I wouldn’t give if your soul were always leaning my way, your heart continually bent toward mine!

The verse tells me that my Father wants me to obey His instructions and follow His commands, but even more than that He wants me to want to follow Him.  He wants me to gladly choose His way. He wants my heart.

But God doesn’t want my heart to satisfy an ego trip. He wants me to willingly follow me for my own good. I can hear Him say:

If only you would choose my way! Can’t you see your life will be so much better if you would follow my path instead of heading down the road the world is pointing to?

God wants my heart because He desires what is best for me. Just like I knew a Polly Pocket doll would not have lasting value, my Father knows that many of the things I desire will not give me enduring joy. He longs to give me all of His best blessings that come through an intimate relationship with Him. And so He asks me to incline my heart toward Him.

My daughter eventually outgrew her affection for Polly Pocket dolls and began to save her money for more lasting and important treasures.

I hope that I will also outgrow my longing for anything but Jesus.

I pray that my heart will always be leaning towards God.

Next step: A prayer for today, “Lord, how amazing that You long for my heart! Forgive me when that foolish heart has wanted things detrimental to my soul. Help me outgrow my longing for anything but You.”

Knowing your identity can change everything! Today I’m over at Perennial Gen which helps readers start “Growing Deeper Roots in the Dirt and Light of Midlife.” Begin reading here then pop over to Perennial Gen to finish reading and to check out some of their other inspiring articles!

When my kids were little I grabbed any opportunity to be alone. I loved being a mom, but sometimes I simply needed to be me—without a toddler hanging on my leg. One day when both kids were glued to the TV watching Sesame Street I saw my chance for two minutes alone in the bathroom. I snuck in and closed the door.

But my alone time didn’t last long. Twenty seconds later I heard a knock on the door. “Who’s there?” I called out, knowing full well it was the two-year-old.

A precious little voice replied, “It’s me—Cutie-pie!”

My little one had heard us call him by this nickname so often he thought it was his name! He identified himself as “Cutie-pie.”

Recently I thought of this story while reading the book of John. Four times in this book the apostle John identifies himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” Continue reading at Perennial Gen.

And if you want even more information on your identity in Christ, check out my free ebook: Live Loved: 5 Practices to Fully Experience God’s Relentless Love. Read about here.

I’m honored to have a piece on Awake Our Hearts. Read a preview here and learn how God used the crumbling mess of my heart to create something new.

Ruins everywhere. As I walk the site of an ancient city in Israel, I sigh at the sight of destruction. I see nothing left but stacks of well-worn stone. Tumbled-down walls of rock. Debris from past lives. Remnants of greatness.

These disintegrating leftovers of a town provide a picture of all I don’t want my life to be. I hope for strength, for power, for influence. I’m ashamed to admit my drive for recognition. Although the desires for both success and servanthood compete in my heart, ambition usually wins. The quest for greatness often pushes the yearning for Christ-like humility right out of my soul.

Yet, as I look at the decaying walls, I remember—greatness never lasts. Here, what once thrived now disintegrates into unrecognizable mounds of dirt and rock.

Then, I stop.

I see signs of life even in the wreckage. On top of a pile of rubble, bright-red anemones spring up, green stems swaying in the chilly spring breeze. Traces of beauty dancing on top of a crumbling foundation.

And I think—isn’t that just like God? 

Read more here…