God loves you. Did you know that? Maybe you needed to be reminded of that today. I know that lately, I’ve been thinking more and more about how amazing His love is for us. We can see His love and feel His love everywhere. Even in our most painful times, we can see His love for us.

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” – 1 John 4:9-10

            Now, I am sure most of you have heard the story of Jonah. How God called him to go to the great city of Nineveh to preach to them. Instead of obeying, he ran away and ended up in the belly of a great fish. It’s a great story. What most people tend to forget is what happened after Jonah got out of that fish. Jonah went into Nineveh and told them that in 40 days God would overthrow the city. The entire kingdom believed Jonah. Everyone fasted and cried out to God to show them mercy. They repented of their sins. God could have easily made an example of them, but instead, He showed them mercy and love.

“Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.” – Jonah 3:10

            The reason I have been thinking a lot about God’s love is because of my cat Smores. Throughout these last six months, Smores developed cancer and it began spreading very quickly. After some time, she was no longer acting like herself. My husband and I had to make the hard decision of putting her to sleep this past Saturday. You may be wondering what any of this has to do with God’s love. Well, God showed me two things in the last two days I had with my baby girl.

            The first is that God loves us all tremendously. As I said, Smores wasn’t acting like herself, especially near the end. However, the day before we had scheduled to put her to sleep I asked God to give Smores a good day. I prayed that she be happy and that she not be in pain. God answered my prayers. He gave me an amazing last day with her. I know that He did that for me, because of how much He loves me, even though I don’t deserve it.

“But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” – Psalm 86:15

            The second thing He showed me in Smores’ last days was that God’s love is incomprehensible and unconditional. With Nineveh, Jonah could not understand why God showed them mercy after everything they had done. However, it was because of His great love that He spared the people of that city. In my case, in those last few days, I couldn’t help but think about how much I loved Smores and how much I would miss her when she’s gone. I knew she loved me too. Even though she would get upset with me when I gave her medicine, she still loved me and wanted to be with me. Even though I may fall away sometimes and I may ignore God, He still loves me and wants to be with me. It’s the same reason He forgave the city of Nineveh. He loved them.

            Sometimes, I can’t help but think that I could never deserve such an amazing and unconditional love. What makes me so special? It has nothing to do with anything I’ve ever done. It is because of who He is. The Bible tells us that God is love in 1 John 4:8. This is unlike any love we could ever find in this world because it is not something we need to earn, but a love that is freely given to us.

“I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him.” – Hosea 14:4

            God loves you. Don’t turn away from the most amazing love you will ever encounter. He knows your shortcoming and knows of everything you’ve ever done. Yet, He still loves you. Don’t feel like you have to earn His love or like if you mess up you will lose it. He will never stop loving you. Come to Him, wholeheartedly and He will show you what true love is.

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:37-39