Isaiah 38:17 Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.

If it had not been for the gall of bitterness, I would not have sought to be delivered. With all honesty, I was not aware of God’s love for me at first. All I knew was despair, pain, and a path leading to loneliness.

It was not until later, while on the path with Jesus that He showed me how great the Father’s love was for me.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

I had heard those words but it did not seem personal for God loved the world, not just me. Then as I walked with Jesus, He showed me the love of the Father.

Luke 24:32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

Only when I walked in “The Way” with Jesus did my heart begin to yearn for Him. Only then did I learn of the Father’s love for me and just how personal that love could be.

A newborn feels the love of the mother long before it learns speech. The same is for those of us that are born again. We feel it even before we learn the language of the Spirit.

I do believe there are some who knew His love and came to Him. That was not my experience. I had a life I left behind. Perhaps a few out there were lucky enough to come to Jesus in innocence and do not have an ugly past. God blessed them in a different way than He has blessed me.

I left that other life behind.

When you love God that is what you do, make a new life with Him.