As we launch our new website, I thought it only fitting to have our client, Pastor Maxine Lloyd, write the inaugural blog for Writer’s Tablet, LLC. We are thrilled with the phenomenal accomplishments she has made and her loving heart for people. And so we appreciate her blog that reminds us of how to live in the present, knowing that God’s love is always present.
– Terri Whitmire | Founder and President
“Tell Them I Love Them!”
By Maxine Lloyd
“God, what do you want me to tell your people?” God said, “Tell them I love them!”
Did you hear that? The almighty God, creator and maker of the universe, loves you. You may have heard the old adages, idioms, proverbial sayings, and even movies about love like; Love Means Never Saying I’m Sorry, Love is a Many Splendored Thing, or What’s Love Got to Do with It? They give you something to think about when examining love relationships. What comes to mind when you hear these titles?
How do these quotes resonate with you?
Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all,
All you need is love,
Love will find a way,
Love knows no boundaries,
Love conquers all, and
Love is blind.
These popular phrases may cause us to pattern our beliefs about love after them. Whether we are between a “romantic love” relationship and a bad break-up or between deciding whether our relationships are good or toxic, the duality of where we find ourselves in our relationships is predicated by how we see ourselves and how we see God. Ultimately, we either see God as loving or harsh and whether God is for us or against us. These are troubling places in which we find ourselves.
For the past two years, the Coronavirus pandemic has put us between a rock and a hard place. For almost a year, we could go nowhere. We had to deal with a lot of choices—who we chose to marry, how we handled our finances (due to the loss of employment), and choices regarding our spiritual beliefs, rituals, and practices that either gave us hope or despair. And these are only a few of the challenges we encountered. Yes, caught between a rock and a hard place.
I recognize that the “between space” represents being in the past and the future. We set our focus and energy worrying about what has happened or what will happen in the future. Here we are in the present, between past and future. Unfortunately, we miss out on where we are now, the present. Did you know the present is a present (gift) that God gives to us each day we are alive? The present of His presence shows us how much God loves us. Many died during the pandemic, and if you are reading this message, you are still living and breathing. Truth be told, many of us should have died a long time ago because of not only our sins but from a rebellious mindset. But it was God who saved us from many dangers that were seen and unseen.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
Those who acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God, believe Jesus died for the sin of the world, and confess this with their mouth, receive God’s love and the gift of salvation.
“Tell them I love them!” He said. However, God showed His love through Jesus at the cross. What does love have to do with it? God’s love knows no boundaries, His love conquered all,
His love forgave and still forgives, and, His love always finds a way.
Pastor Maxine Ball is a multi-published author. Her latest book entitled, SCARS The Roadmap to the Soul: A Pastoral Reflection is available on Amazon or by request at your local bookstore