{"id":22492,"date":"2014-10-26T00:15:42","date_gmt":"2014-10-26T04:15:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=22492"},"modified":"2014-10-25T22:28:43","modified_gmt":"2014-10-26T02:28:43","slug":"ive-always-loved-third-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/10\/26\/ive-always-loved-third-day\/","title":{"rendered":"I&#8217;ve Always Loved You"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-16629\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv.jpg\" alt=\"psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv\" width=\"341\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv.jpg 341w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv-300x175.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 341px) 100vw, 341px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800080;\">I don&#8217;t know how to explain it<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"> But I know the words would hardly do<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"> Miracles and signs and wonders<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"> Aren&#8217;t enough for me to prove to you<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><em><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Don&#8217;t you know I&#8217;ve always loved you<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #800080;\"> Even before there was time<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #800080;\"> Though you turn away<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #800080;\"> I tell you still<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #800080;\"> Don&#8217;t you know I&#8217;ve always loved you<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #800080;\"> And I always will<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Greater love has not a man<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"> Than the One who gives His life to prove<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"> That He would do anything<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"> And that&#8217;s what I&#8217;m gonna do for you<\/span><\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FXWrVO9W8sU?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0Songwriter: Mac Powell \/ Performed by Third Day with Josh Wilson<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"> * \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 \u271e \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 * <\/span><\/p>\n<p>This song was more than words to a dear member of my family. \u00a0It was as if God was speaking directly to her. \u00a0On her worst days, this song would come on the radio and she would smile through tears. \u00a0How encouraging that when the whole world is crumbing at your feet and everything that you held dear is gone, that the Creator of the universe is wildly, madly in love with you. He always has been and always will be.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes He has to really work at making us believe it&#8212;that no matter what we do or don&#8217;t do, He will never stop pursuing us. \u00a0Miracles and blessings come our way, and yet on a hard day, we question. \u00a0Why do we still have so much doubt? \u00a0We hear all around us that if God loved us that ___ wouldn&#8217;t have happened, or that divorce wouldn&#8217;t have gone through, or that your child wouldn&#8217;t have become sick, or even worse, died. \u00a0We will never know the answers to those hard questions. Not on this side of Heaven.<\/p>\n<p>What we do know is that He is Sovereign and His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. \u00a0We know that even if we could rewrite the story, we would choose His way. \u00a0We only see what is in front of us. \u00a0There is a bigger picture and all of the things we trudge through \u00a0do have a purpose. \u00a0Maybe one person was saved through your example. Jesus stopped for the one, right? \u00a0And even if just one person asked Jesus into his or her heart, wasn&#8217;t it worth it?<\/p>\n<p>All of this life is doable, simply because He does love us. There is so much hope in those four letters&#8230;and joy and peace. \u00a0I challenge you today to find all the ways He loves you. \u00a0Write them down and look at them when those bad days come (and believe me, they will). \u00a0But your hope is in Him. \u00a0And He is really all you need.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some verses that I encourage you to write on index cards and place them where you will see them and be reminded that He has always loved you.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son,<br \/>\nthat whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.<br \/>\nJohn 3:16<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">~ <span style=\"color: #800080;\">\u00a0 \u2665<\/span> \u00a0 ~<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, &#8220;Fear not, I will help you.&#8221;<br \/>\nIsaiah 41:13<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">~ <span style=\"color: #800080;\">\u00a0 \u2665<\/span> \u00a0 ~<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">The Lord your God is with you,<br \/>\nHe is mighty to save.<br \/>\nHe will take great delight in you,<br \/>\nHe will quiet you with His love,<br \/>\nHe will rejoice over you with singing.<br \/>\nZephaniah 3:17<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">~ <span style=\"color: #800080;\">\u00a0 \u2665<\/span> \u00a0 ~<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Let us pray:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0Dear Lord, You are amazing, wonderful, and loving. \u00a0You are Sovereign and You are good. \u00a0You have <strong>always<\/strong> loved us, even when we feel we do not deserve it. \u00a0You sent Your Son to die, so that we don&#8217;t have to work to be saved, we just are when we ask. \u00a0The veil was torn and now we come to You as we want. \u00a0No temples, no walls, no harsh judgment&#8230; only sweet love and forgiveness and grace. \u00a0Remind those who forget often. \u00a0Let them know that they are<em> loved by You!<\/em> \u00a0We thank You and we praise You. \u00a0In Jesus&#8217; name, amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I don&#8217;t know how to explain it But I know the words would hardly do Miracles and signs and wonders Aren&#8217;t enough for me to prove to you Don&#8217;t you know I&#8217;ve always loved you Even before there was time Though you turn away I tell you still Don&#8217;t you know I&#8217;ve always loved you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":16629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4937],"tags":[425,7631,7630,7628,7629,566,589,4932,938,3787,1912],"class_list":["post-22492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psalms-hymns-and-spiritual-songs","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-he-is-sovereign","tag-he-loves-us","tag-ive-always-loved-you","tag-isaiah-4113","tag-john-316","tag-kim-spring","tag-psalms-hymns-spiritual-songs","tag-scripture","tag-third-day","tag-zephaniah-317","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-5QM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22492"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22499,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22492\/revisions\/22499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}