The Fullness of God

Last week a friend lost their 10-year old boy.  I cannot even imagine.  Despite this huge loss I am so inspired by the parents of this boy.  I like what the father put on Facebook.  To summarize he said he was so thankful for his family, friends, and community coming together and being so giving and caring to them.  He said he will miss his son everyday but he hopes to be a better person from here on.  But what really spoke to me was when he said he wants to be more outgoing and give back to people as much as they gave him.  And to spend more time with your family and love them.  I completely feel the same way.

Last week I also started reading Uninvited by Lysa TerKeurst.  The book is about living loved when you feel less than, left out, and lonely.  I feel like this book can sort of tie into the above paragraph.  Gosh, I don't even know where to start.  But bear with me while I attempt to tie it together.

There is a chapter on feeling alone in a crowded room.  I always thought the problem is that I am not outgoing enough or it is the people not paying attention and trying to include the shy people.  But we cannot put unrealistic expectations on other people.  She then goes on to talk about that we have to walk into the room prepared with the fullness of God and look for ways to bless others.  

Ephesians 3:18-19 says, "may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." 

Are you going to be a grasper of God's love or a grabber for people's love in order to satisfy the longing of being loved?  The problem is that when we rely on other people's love then we start to believe the lies of the flesh.  When something happens we will assign thoughts to others that they may have never actually thought in the first place.  And then we feel rejected and uninvited.  The fullness of God comes to us when we abide, delight, and dwell in Him.  "The more fully we invite God in, the less we will feel uninvited by others."  

So how this sort of relates is that just how the father above stated that he wants to be more outgoing and be more giving (and so do I); I can't be more outgoing if I want to run and hide from a lonely, crowded room.  I am hoping this book will help me too with that.