I Hope You Start Falling In Love With Jesus

We’re all searching for love, searching for happiness, searching for a place where we can belong or another person to understand what we’re going through. We’re searching for answers, searching for understanding, searching for some sense of balance in this crazy, spinning world.

So often it feels like we’re lacking, like there’s a part of us missing, a piece that’s left a hole in our hearts, no matter how hard we try to patch and resew ourselves back together. We try to fill this emptiness with our vices, with relationships, with people, with material goods or substances that only mask the pain by drowning us.

But maybe our search isn’t about finding something to fall into, something to hide us or protect us from the storms of this life. Maybe our search isn’t about human love, or finding a person who will somehow solve all of the brokenness in our heart because we know, deep down they never will.

Maybe we’re searching for something greater than ourselves, a love so big and beautiful we can hardly comprehend it. Maybe we’re searching for someone who has all the answers, who guides us and loves us beyond measure and who already sees us as whole in His perfect eyes.

Maybe what we’re searching for is right in front of us: God’s unfailing love through His son, Jesus.

And I hope, if this is how you feel right now—lost and broken, confused and misled, wandering with no set direction, dizzy and falling deeper into the black hole of your mind—that you open your heart to Jesus and know He is here, He is present, He is loving and cherishing and guiding you, every single step you take.

And I hope you start falling in love with who He is and will always be in your life.

I hope you stop searching for answers at the bottom of bottles or in magazines that will never show you a realistic picture of how beautiful you are. I hope you stop looking to other, imperfect people to guide you and take heed of Christ’s steps, leading you into the light.

I hope you stop letting yourself be stepped on, be bruised, be left by people who don’t see your true worth and start seeing yourself through Jesus’ eyes. You are His creation. You are His child. You are strong and loved.

I hope you stop focusing all your attention on what’s missing and start seeing what you have, who you are, who you can become. I hope you stop wishing for material pleasures and believe in the eternal gifts you have in Jesus’ name.

I hope you stop thinking you’re not enough, you don’t measure up, you’re somehow less because in Christ’s eyes, you are always enough and have never been any less.

I hope you start to learn that nothing in this world will fill you like Jesus’ love can. And I hope, slowly, day by day, you start falling in love with Him—in the way He cares for you, in the power of His word, in the strong presence that will never leave you, in the faithfulness and persistence He has in your life, even when you wander in the opposite direction.

I hope you start falling in love with His grace, with His affection, with His ability to fill the emptiness of your heart with confidence and peace.

I hope you start falling in love with all that He can do in your life—the changes He can make, the people He can reach, the miracles He can bring, the new start He will build for you on the path that leads to better days, not broken ones.

I hope you start falling in love with the way He sees you, as beautiful and bold and powerful in His name. And I hope, in turn, you begin to see yourself that way. Because you are His creation, His son, His daughter.

This life spins us in so many directions. We get broken by people, by situations, by moments that soar so wildly out of our control we become desperate to hold onto anything that makes sense. It’s so easy to get caught up in the wrong things, in people who don’t have our best interests at heart, in vices that only destroy us, in situations that break our hearts even further.

But in all of this mess, Christ stands strong.

In the turmoil of our lives, in the messes we have made, in the mistakes and the pain and the loss and the loneliness, He is waiting for us to accept Him, to open the doors of our hearts to Him and let Him begin to transform us from the inside out.

He is waiting for us to trust that He is in control, and always will be. And waiting for us to believe that whatever pain we’re experiencing doesn’t have to be fought alone. Because He is by our side, taking up a sword and going to battle for us.

So let Him.

Let Him go to battle for you. Let Him stand up to your demons. Let Him fill your heart with forgiveness and strength and passion and hope. Let Him bring you to better days.

Let Him love you.

And let yourself fall in love with Him in return. Let yourself be blessed by His goodness, strengthened by His fearlessness, and encouraged by His word.

I hope you know you no longer have to face the world on your own, you no longer have to be afraid of what comes next, you no longer have to feel empty. Because in Him you are filled.

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Marisa Donnelly is a poet and author of the book, Somewhere on a Highway, available here.