This week I read a Facebook post from a young friend who recently suffered a broken heart.  She lamented for “someone to love me as much as I love them.”  I think she’s setting her sights too low.

I too longed for this kind of love as a young person.  My family had been broken by addiction and divorce.  We moved away from the friends I had grown up with.  During this time I was hurt by someone I should have been able to trust, which further isolated me.  It felt as if all the people I had always relied on had abandoned me.

I did what many young girls do in this situation, and tried to find love in other people. I was vulnerable in my need, and was preyed upon by people who only wanted to use me. My heart ended up broken again and again. Nobody loved me in the way I desperately wanted and needed to be loved.

In the midst of all this turmoil and pain, I realized I had forgotten my first love. I had a brutally honest conversation with Him and told Him everything I had done since falling away from Him. I told Him I was really hard to love.  I was rebellious, angry, and had major trust issues. I warned Him I wouldn’t settle for anything less than complete commitment from Him.  I told him if he let me down, I would never trust anyone or anything again.  I said I would understand if He didn’t want me back.

Without hesitation, God welcomed me back with open arms, wrapping His perfect love around me.  He reminded me that even though I had left Him, He had never left me.  And never would!  It was scary to love so hard and not know for certain if I would be loved back in the same way.  But He has never let me down, not even one time.  He has proven Himself to be completely trustworthy.

It took time for me to understand the depths of God’s love for me.  I was loved even MORE than I could ever love.  Loved more than my limited human mind could even comprehend. People are imperfect and will always disappoint us, hurt us, and leave us.  God’s love is perfect and complete.  His love for me is so complete that I can love others without fear, because I don’t need them to love me back.  There is no better or more fulfilling love.  This amazing love can be yours too, simply for the asking.