Loved anyway…

When life is hard, when it hurts the most and when it feels like the hard just won’t stop- it is so hard to remember that He is right there with us. He is carrying, guiding, loving, waiting for you… patiently waiting for you.

This week was a hard week. It could be the beginning of a bunch of hard weeks, I don’t get to know. You don’t get to know, we just get to live and breathe and move and react… cry, laugh, enjoy, break. Sometimes the hard stuff just compounds, maybe it comes in 3’s, maybe 15’s. I try really hard to stand in these hard times and remind myself of the beautiful adventures, the funny stories, the good stuff. It still sucks, these hard times. They suck.

I hear songs in these moments and often they are like a little Gospel delivered to my soul, and I guess I get to give the Homily to that gifted Gospel. The other morning, I was driving home and the song “You Love Me Anyway” came on KLOVE, and I know it was for me. I sat in the driveway and finished the song, then texted myself the name of the song so I could listen to it later. What if it was not just for me…

I think of the way that Jesus loves us, even when we are the worst version of ourselves. He loves us bigger, better and more patiently than we can even understand. He is right there for all of it.

“I am the thorn in your crown, but you love me anyway. I am the sweat from your brow, but you love me anyway. I am the nail in your wrist, but you love me anyway. I am Judis’ kiss, but you love me anyway. I am the man who yelled out from the crowd, for your blood to be spilled on this Earthshaking round. I turned away with a smile on my face with this sin in my heart, tried to bury your grace… so ashamed of my life, my life- but you loved me anyway”.

He loves you anyway.

He loves us in our failures, our triumphs. He loves the broken, the angry, the addicts, the thieves, the atheists, the weak, the powerful. He loves you when you are uncertain in your faith. He loves you when you are so angry at Him.

I can only imagine how many times I have hurt Jesus, yet He loves me anyway. The times I was unkind… the times I did not stand up for Him. I remember many moments like that, I carry them with me. He loves me anyway.

Right now, my life feels hard… I don’t understand it all. Right now, some things just suck. Right next to the loss, is good change… right next to the pain is some of that grace and love that He gifts. I know this… I see it. I don’t falter in faith, I just need reminders and little Gospel gifts to trudge through the hard stuff. Maybe you needed this today… maybe this song is for you too. I needed that ‘always and anyway’ reminder… maybe others do to.