My husband has seen the raw me. The unfiltered, no makeup, messy hair, messy clothes version of me. The part of me that ugly cries and sometimes falls apart as I reveal parts of my story and my heart that few or none know. The versions of me that are unwell or in pain. Yet, he loves me as I am and in the messy parts of myself, just loves me deeper. That’s real love. Loving even the less than perfect parts of people. It is through this love where I feel safe, heard, known and loved. I, in turn, love him with that same unwavering love. It is there where our relationship has grown and where we grow as people. For when we can truly be ourselves around those we love, it is there where we feel we can endure all the hard parts of life and can find even more beauty in the good parts. I truly believe this is how God calls us to love. For is that not how He loves us?  He knows that we are not perfect and truly loves us, despite it. God loves us, despite all the messy parts, and He knows us even more than we know ourselves. May we go to Him, as we are. For when we can go to God honestly, it is there where our relationship with Him can deepen and grow. God already knows us, He already knows our stories. May we go to Him sincerely, authentically. Inviting Him into all parts of our lives. For when we realize God’s deep love for us, it is there where we feel truly safe, heard, known and loved. In that, we see God’s deep unwavering love for us and we then too, find our deep love for Him. My husband told me I am so beautiful today, even with my messy hair and a recent injury that has left me more needy. Though what is really beautiful, is the way that He loves me. The more I think about it, it sure is even more beautiful, how God loves us too, just as we are.

Erin Fitts-Brower

Just as we are

Hebrews 10:22 NIV

let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 4:16 NIV

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

1 John 4:16 NIV

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

Jeremiah 31:3 NIV

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

Romans 8:38-39 NIV

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.

Ephesians 3:18-19 NIV

may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.