Originally published Friday, 10 April 2015.
Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8 (VOICE)
Sun fell in shafts on the square as Xylon and I propped our feet on our backpacks. Opposite in a row of old women sat smoothing knee-length skirts over their knees and speaking rapidly in Spanish.
Xylon pointed, and I turned to see an auburn haired woman clutching the hand of a blonde toddler heading towards us. We had never met Susannah but we guessed this must be her. Pulling our bags behind her we walked over to introduce ourselves.
Susannah took us back to her apartment and started showing us around the space we would be living for a week. Her English was close to perfect so I asked her to share her story.
Susannah told us of a childhood in New York, of growing up Spanish in the US and how she returned to Spain as an adult and fell in love with a man from a small Spanish town. She laughed softly as she said,
"Love takes you places you never expected to go." (tweet this)
Her words stuck in my head.
I thought about how Jesus is God and God is Love.
And how sometimes having a relationship with God means going places I never expected and loving people I thought I never could.
I thought about all the places Love goes that I never expected:
How Love never holds the hand of fear.
How Love forgets every wrong.
How Love opens his arms and pulls me towards him no matter how dark my thoughts, heart or actions.
How Love never fails.
I thought about our marriage: how I never expected love to take us through days of radiation, months in hospital and years of chemo.
I thought about Jesus and how his love for me took him to some hard places. I wondered if he ever expected his love for me to take him to Calvary, to a cross, to a grave, to coming back from the dead.
I wondered if Jesus knew Love would have him offering life to prostitutes, thieves, murderers. (tweet this)
Did Jesus expect that a woman would wash his feet with her hair and a bottle of the world’s most expensive shampoo out of love?
I thought about the people I know who have left family, country, jobs, just because Love calls them to live a different story.
And I thought about how, as I let God show me how to love, he leads to me people, places and ideas I would never have expected.
And I found a prayer stumbling from my lips, “Love, take me places I never expected to go.”
Ponder: What places, moments or people has God brought into your life out of love that you never expected?
Pray: Love, take me places I never expected to go.
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- This was orginally published on my site in October 2014. To read more devotionals like this go to ilovedevotionals.com
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