GUEST POST Written By Amanda Guisseppi
At the beginning of each year I always like to have a theme or word to focus my year on. Last year it was ‘run,’ and the year before that ‘grace.’ This year it’s ‘love.’ But not just any love, a love that is tangible and can be seen by others. The scripture that God gave me to focus on this year was 1 John 3:18: “Little children, let’s not love with words or speech but with action and truth.” God was challenging me to actually show love to others and not just say I love them.
During my church’s recent prayer and fasting week God gave me a revelation about love and loving others: It’s only when we get filled with God’s love can we truly love on others. 1 John 4:19 states “We love because God first loved us.” In order for us to love others we need to have God’s love in us. So during that week, it became my prayer that God would give me a deeper revelation of his love.
Be careful what you ask for.
At 3:41am on Wednesday, in the stillness of the morning God gently woke me up to speak words of love into my heart. God showed me that I belonged; that there was a place in his heart that only I could fit in, He longed to spend time with me, He pursued me, chased after me, and that I was His. This deeply impacted me as many times in my life I felt like I never belonged: high school, university, amongst my family, different workplaces. I was different, thought differently and did things a bit differently, but God made sure I knew deep down in my heart that I belonged with him and I always would.
During the week of prayer and fasting I began to also pray and ask God to give me practical ways that I can love those around me. One of my goals this year is to become closer with my family. My grandmother just turned 89 and she isn’t getting any younger, so I wanted to be intentional about making time to spend with her on a weekly basis.
Last week at my grandmother’s birthday party I announced to my family that I will be coming to her place to have lunch with my grandmother once a week and invited them to join us if they wanted to. Yesterday was the first time I spent with her. When I called her to let her know I was coming over, I could hear the excitement in her voice. I knew that that one action of just spending time with her, whether that meant sitting down and eating lunch together or watching Matlock with her, meant so much. 
It also showed me that we can love others, not by big sweeping gestures, but by small actions and moments. And it’s through those small actions and moments that she can know that I love her.
So God pouring out His love on me, allowed me to love on those around me. I am forever grateful that God loves us so much that he wants to fill us with his love to be able to truly love others.
Amanda Guisseppi
How has God revealed His love to you? Share your story and it could be featured on iamloved.tv.
Want more stories like this? Sign up to have new posts delivered straight to your inbox.
