From Mary:

When reflecting on when God has shown His radical love for me, the first thing that comes to my mind is the moment I will never forget when I first felt His love. I grew up going to church and Bible study– I actually did a thing called “Bible drill” from 7th-12th grade which is basically a competition for how well you can recite Bible verses and find different passages of scripture. Needless to say, I knew that “For God so loved the world, He sent His one and only Son to die..”. But then there was a moment in my life when it’s like my eyes were actually opened for the first time, and by no strength of my own, it was as if I met this person that I knew so much about.

But to be honest with you, as beautiful as that moment was, as memorable and emotional, it didn’t change my life. I wish I could stand here and say that after that moment, I was an amazing Christian because I knew God’s love for me!.. But I can’t lie on a Christian newsletter. What really happened was that I felt that amazing feeling of God’s love, and then I turned the other way and started making a lot of really bad decisions (i.e. sins). I started to wonder if this “good God” was withholding something from me that the world could give me. And at first, it kinda felt that way. I started taking baby steps in the wrong direction, and there was this sense of fun and excitement and danger. But beyond all that, there was this addicting high.. something I had never felt before– love and acceptance by people.

Before I knew it those baby steps started to add up until I looked back and couldn’t see the way back to where I started. I slowly made more and more changes to myself to keep up that addicting feeling of being accepted by the people around me, until I looked in the mirror and couldn’t recognise myself anymore. There was a knot in my stomach that kept growing. This deep, sinking feeling. Even if I tried to go back to God, I wouldn’t even know where to start. I was in too deep.

That is when I experienced the radical love of God. I couldn’t find my way back to Him, but He showed me that He never left me. He rescued me out of my mess after I had turned my back on Him. And after everything I had done, His love for me didn’t change.

From Grace:

When Jae asked me to write on the topic of how God has shown His love to me… I immediately thought of one thing: My life. You see I was adopted and everything in my life has, without a doubt, proven to me the faithfulness and unquestionable love God has for me. In recent years, I’ve become aware of a completely different and difficult life I would live if I was not adopted. I wouldn’t have had two parents who devoted every second to loving their children, providing endlessly, and teaching them the love and powerful presence of God. Truly, the life I live is not anything I could have earned or ever deserve, it’s simply a testament to the love and power of God.

As a young college student, I often fall short. One of the biggest things I struggle with is comparing and judging. I started to think back in the spring about why this was, and I realized it stemmed from my human sin of envy and desire. You see, as insignificant as it truly is, I started to put my worth and value on a scale next to others, sinfully weighing worldly things of success, value, and popularity. During a stressful semester last spring, I felt alone and discouraged until something stopped me and asked “Why is this not enough? Was the family and home I gave you not enough? Were the things I chose to bless you with not enough?” These questions from then on convicted me and charged me to realize that everything in this world and life is fleeting and that life in praise and worship to God is not fleeting but, EVERLASTING! Every single day I get to live by having the opportunity to even attend university, and have a family that loves and supports me is a testament that God has shown His love towards me.