by Christina Woolard

As I sit here thinking about what to write, I’m realizing that God truly has, and is, doing a marvelous work in me. He is changing, molding, shaping and forming me into a young woman that knows beyond all doubt that all she needs is her Savior. It’s stretching, exciting, painful, uncomfortable and amazing.

This summer was huge for the whole God-teaching-me-new-stuff thing.

I had the privilege of counseling at a summer camp for two months of my summer, which proved to be one of the toughest experiences I’ve had to face. But as the summer ended, not only was I physically exhausted, but my relationship with Christ was restored.

Perhaps the biggest thing that I walked away with is the enormity of God’s perfect love for the shameful, measly little me. It’s so big that, well, I can’t even describe it. His love is pouring out, bubbling over, and immensely overflowing for me. He is absolutely insanely in love with His people! And for me personally.

Now, before I continue, I do realize that perhaps this may seem like something that is discussed too often in the modern church or sounds cliché, but I truly believe that it is foundational to who we are in Christ and should not be just brushed over. Finding my identity in Christ begins with understanding His love for me. Everything else about me as a Christian revolves around this basic principle. The life-changing experience of Christianity begins with grasping the love of my God.

I was hit so hard with this reality this summer. Multiple times, in several different ways, I could just hear God whispering in my ear about His love. I had to allow myself to accept it.

In the past year, a long series of events caused me to reject God. I had no hope, no belief in His love. If He loved me, He definitely wouldn’t have put me through all that heartache and pain.

Wow, was I wrong!

It took several months for God to peel off those layers of lies that had so quickly covered over my heart. But I began to realize that He had never left me, I was just looking in the wrong places to try to find Him. All summer long, He consistently not only taught me, but proved to me that His love is real, and it’s all I need to get through life.

I don’t want to say that I’m more in love with God than I’ve ever been, but my love for God is more grounded than it ever has been. It’s based on hard fact, not wavering emotions. The ways that God works is mysteriously beautiful, and I praise God for who He is, and thank Him for loving me all the time.

I’d like to close with these lyrics from Tenth Avenue North’s Times:

“My love is over, it’s underneath.

It’s inside, it’s in between.

These times you’re healing, and when your heart breaks.

The times that you feel like you’re falling from grace.

The times you’re hurting. The times that you heal.

The times you go hungry, and are tempted to steal.

The times of confusion, in chaos and pain.

I’m there in your sorrow, under the weight of your shame.

I’m there through your heartache. I’m there in the storm.

My love I will keep you, by My power alone.

I don’t care where you fall, where you have been.

I’ll never forsake you, My love never ends.

It never ends.

E-mail: christina_m_woolard@cornerstone.edu