My dear child,
I want you to know how much I love you. Nothing is stronger
than my love. I love you more than you can understand now, but you’ll see it
more every day.
I know everything about you, all of your secrets, everything
you’re ashamed of, and everything you regret. I know about the pain and hurt
you endured at the hands of others. Yet, nothing I know about you will scare me
away. I still love you.
In my love, you never have to feel ashamed or condemned. I
love you; so don’t be hard on yourself. I know sometimes you make mistakes, but
I forgive you. Sometimes your bad choices or hurts seem to linger around you,
and you are fearful that you can’t escape them. I want all of your horrible
memories to fade away so they aren’t a part of you anymore. I want to wash away
everything unhappy in you so you can see how precious you are. I have already paid the price for the wrong
things you’ve done. You don’t owe me anything. I don’t need anything from you.
Instead, I will give you everything you need.
I am always faithful to you. I never stop loving you. I know
that sometimes you are unfaithful to me. But I’m always jealous to get you
back. I don’t want you to be with people and in places where you’ll be hurt and
abused.
I hear you cry for help, and I never ignore you or hold back
my love from you. My love will support you when you start to slip and fall.
When you feel like you’re in a hole, I will rescue you and pull you out. I care
about your daily struggles. I want you to share all your anxieties with me.
When you feel ashamed and start telling yourself that you’re worthless, I will
give your heart peace. My love will always protect you. I will persevere when
you feel hopeless. My love never runs out.
You don’t have to earn my love. I don’t need to be impressed
by your accomplishments or skills. I love you already, and I will love you
forever. Since before you were born, I made you to be special and loved. I love
you for being you.
I want you to give you a good life, one that’s not missing
anything wonderful. I want you to have all the joy you can. Every good thing in
your life is my present to you. You are my delight. You make me sing and dance
and celebrate. You are valuable to me. I want to give you the desires of your
heart, your real, deep desires, that are a part of who you are.
I want you to know you are loved, so that you can share love
freely. I love you so you can love other people and be loved by them. I want my
love to reach over the whole world.
Love, Jesus
This letter is based on the following scriptures.
And I pray that you, being
rooted and established in love, may have power, together
with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep
is the love of Christ, and to know this love
that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the
fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17-19)
I will be glad and rejoice
in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish
of my soul. (Psalm 31:7)
Therefore, there is now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)
But who can discern their
own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep
your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. (Psalm 19:12-13a)
As far as the east is from
the west,
so far has [God] removed our transgressions from us.
(Psalm 103:12)
But because of his great
love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with
Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been
saved. And God raised us up with
Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians
2:4-6)
[God] is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life
and breath and everything else. (Acts 17:25)
[Jesus] will wipe every tear
from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for
the old order of things has passed away. (Revelation 21:4)
I will betroth you to me
forever;
I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love
and compassion. I will betroth you in
faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.
(Hosea 2:19-20)
Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer or
withheld his love from me! (Psalm 66:20)
Cast all your anxiety on
[Jesus] because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)
[God] forgives all your sins and
heals all your diseases, who redeems your life
from the pit and crowns you with love and
compassion, who satisfies your
desires with good things so that your youth is
renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm
103:3-5)
This is how we know that
we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that
God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John
3:19-20)
[Love] always
protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love
never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:7-8a)
But God demonstrates his own
love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Give thanks to the God of
heaven. His love endures forever. (Psalm 136:26)
For you created my inmost
being; you knit me
together in my mother’s womb. My frame was not
hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
(Psalm 139:13, 15)
[God] shows no partiality to
princes and does not favor the rich
over the poor, for they are all the work of his hands?
(Job 34:19)
[Jesus said,] The thief
comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life,
and have it to the full. (John 10:10)
[Jesus said,] I have told
you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:11)
Every good and perfect gift
is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not
change like shifting shadows. (James 1:17)
The Lord your God is with you, the
Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great
delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over
you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)
For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
When I said, “My foot is
slipping,”
your unfailing love, Lord,
supported me. (Psalm 94:18)
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (Matthew 6:26)
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (Matthew 6:26)
Dear friends, since God so
loved us, we also ought to love one another. No
one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love
is made complete in us. (1 John 4:11-12)
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of
the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. (Habakkuk 2:14)