My Life Verse

(Our church just completed a study of Bill Hybels' book Simplify, and boy, it really convicted me! I didn't think I had anything that needed to be simplified, but I did. The Lord really worked on my heart! One of the chapters in the book was about selecting a life verse to use as a guide for all you do. Stewart asked me to share about my life verse last Sunday night during worship. This was what I shared. And if you're looking for a great book to read, definitely pick up Simplify! I can't recommend it enough!)

I'm sure Stewart was expecting some great story about how I decided this verse was my "life verse." Well, I can't give you a dramatic story because honestly, I have no idea how I came to love this verse. I do remember that it was some time in seminary when I ran across this verse. I am pretty sure it just came up in daily reading. I think - though I am not sure - that we had just been given free a New Living Translation Bible that had daily readings to where you could read through the Bible in 2 years. I dove head-first into that and really enjoyed it. I think it was in the course of that reading that I read these words in the NLT: “Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you!” Psalms‬ ‭63:3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I do remember thinking, "God's love is better than life? Wow. What a thought!" At that time, I was a young 20-something, looking ahead to married life with Stewart and the career I thought God had chosen for me. I was in school, so I was blessed to be living off my parents' dime, and though there was stress involved in seminary, in retrospect, I hardly had a care in the world. At that moment, my life was pretty great. 

I thought, "But this says God's love is even better than life!" And if you think about it, it is. All through the Scriptures, God's love is described as unfailing and steadfast. It is a love that was big enough to send His Son to earth to die for my sins. That is better than life!

Now all these years later, I know that sometimes, life isn't that great. Life is tough. Some days I don't think I'm going to make it through that one day. But I remember that God's love is better than my life. He loves me enough to give His Son for me, and that love causes me to worship. "How I praise you!" "My lips will glorify you." This verse focuses me back to the right place: God's love. My response to that is to worship. 

For Mother's Day this year, Stewart commissioned Amy Taylor, Stewart's assistant and my friend Melinda's sister, to do this artwork for me. It now hangs in my kitchen as a daily reminder of God's love. When life gets tough, I can recall God's "Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love." (The Jesus Storybook Bible, p. 36)