on getting a life verse

Without having seen Him, you love Him; though you do not [even] now see Him, you believe in Him and exult and thrill with inexpressible and glorious (triumphant, heavenly) joy. 1Peter1:8 AMP

When I was a new Christian at sixteen, I would lie on my bed thinking about the church service that night and wonder how I could somehow find proof that God was real. It was a turning point in my faith because I was making a decision to either go forward with my Christianity or turn away. I was discouraged because I felt like all my prayers were bouncing off the ceiling, and I would stare out of my bedroom window at the million stars in the sky, and wonder how I really mattered in the whole scheme of the galaxy.

I finally decided to thumb through my bible and did the all favourite flick and point. I landed on 1 Peter, and my eyes went straight to verse 8. ‘Though having not seen you love….’

And that was the point in question. How do you love someone you cannot see?

It all seemed to click from that point on. I read and reread that verse for ages until the words were cemented into my brain. 1Peter 1:8 became my life verse, and I based the foundation of my faith in God on those words.

There's nothing like the inexpressible joy from heaven to keep you going even when things don’t make sense!

I made a decision to love and believe in Him no matter what, and I think if it wasn’t for that moment in time I don’t know if I could have weathered some of the storms that were ahead of me, even decades later.

What is your life verse? Do you have one? I felt like God handpicked that one just for me. It seemed to jump out of the Bible and hit me in the face.

I went through a soul searching time recently, because life had become so busy that I felt like those special moments with Him were harder to find. (Yesterday I woke up at 5am to a spewing child, and he was still going at 5pm!) I have never wanted to lose my first love, and the excitement I had when I was a new Christian. But to keep that alive you have to continue to seek Him in imaginative ways!

My favourite story is of Susannah Wesley (Charles & John Wesley’s mum). With 19 children to think about one of the ways she spent time with God was underneath her apron in the corner of her kitchen. Thankfully we don’t have to resort to that (I hope!)

So dig up your life verse, and maybe this week think back to the early days when you first found out about the gift of salvation, and the One who loves you.

You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you'll get what you're looking forward to: total salvation. (Message Bible Version)