Tag Archive for: Ephesians 2:4-5

How Do You Go from Liked to Loved?

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Ephesians 2:4-5 — “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”

When my husband Christian and I first became boyfriend and girlfriend, I took on another role: FBI Investigator Sadie Rob.

I’d seen his Instagram so many times. But when I became Investigator Sadie, I started noticing stuff that I’d never really cared about before, including the girl he went to a party with.

All of a sudden, I noticed her in a different way. I spiraled as I thought about how much fun they must have had and how beautiful she was, with her blonde hair and blue eyes.

After my investigation I walked away concluding I was no longer good enough for the relationship. I figured I should do everybody a favor and exit. I’d save Christian the hassle.

Years earlier I’d been dating a guy, and somebody said my looks were not up to par compared to another girl he had previously dated. That really stuck with me.

It got in the way of me getting close to people. It wasn’t that others weren’t willing to love me; it was that I didn’t feel very lovable. It wasn’t that they weren’t willing to date me; it was that I didn’t feel good enough.

That little lie had been planted in my heart for years, and I almost let that affect my relationship with the person I would later marry. He was standing there pursuing me with love and respect.

I went to Christian and started telling him how I was feeling. He shared with me something very powerful that day. He said, “Yeah, those girls were attractive. However, I am captivated by you.”

At first it felt pretty odd to hear those words coming out of my boyfriend’s mouth, but then he said, “You can notice something is attractive, because the fact is, it’s attractive. But to be captivated means that you hold all my attention.”

That day I stopped investigating and rested in the security that he was captivated by me.

So many times we do this with God. He is loving us, pursuing us, and asking us to be in a relationship with Him. He has written a couple-thousand-page love letter to us, but we have to allow ourselves to be loved and captivated by Him.

We must begin to take God at His word. When we refuse to allow ourselves to feel loved, we stop a relationship from being able to grow. Be captivated by your Creator, and don’t lose sight of His gaze.

— Sadie Robertson Huff

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God’s Mercy in my Mess

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“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”

Ephesians 2:4-5

Those early postpartum days felt like a blur. My baby Lennox was everything I had dreamed of, but somewhere between sleepless nights and diaper changes my house became, well, a nightmare.

Laundry draped over chairs, dishes filled on the edge of the sink, and the floor? Let’s just say I was not winning any cleaning awards. I hated how my house looked—and how I felt living in it. Truth be told, I could not keep up. I did not have the energy, and that only made me feel worse.

One afternoon, a message lit up my phone: “Hey,” my friend wrote, “we know how overwhelming those early baby days can be. We’d like to gift you a professional house cleaning.”

I stared at my phone, mortified. Let strangers into this mess? But before I could decline, another text followed.

“It’s okay,” she assured me. “This is what friends are for.”

When the cleaning team arrived, I felt like hiding. For three hours, they scrubbed, dusted, and tackled every corner. My husband and I apologized repeatedly, but they just smiled. “This is what we do,” they said. “We’re happy to help.”

This whole experience reminded me of God. How many times had I tried to hide my life’s mess from Him, thinking I needed to fix it first? Yet, every time, He steps into the chaos and does what I cannot.

God is the friend who steps into our chaos and says, “Let Me take care of this.” He doesn’t ask us to fix it first. He doesn’t wait until we are presentable. He meets us right in the middle of our mess and lovingly makes us whole again. It is not because we deserve it. It is because He is rich in mercy.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by your life’s mess today, know this: you do not have to face it alone. God’s love can transform anything. So, let Him in. Let Him show you what grace can do.

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