I know that you saved me, but I don’t know, I don’t know how far you had to reach/ I swim in your deep love, but I don’t know, I don’t know how wide or how deep/ I know that you’re good, Lord, but I don’t know, I don’t know why you’re so good to me
-Ben and Robin Pasley, Enter the Worship Circle, Third Circle
As Christians, we spend a lot of time talking about salvation. It is a central theme of the New Testament, but are we really saying what God wants His Church to be saying? There are some seriously divisive issues facing the Church today: homosexuality, abortion, divorce, etc. These are topics that should be discussed, but shouldn’t we seek God’s heart before launching into debates? Many Christians simply repeat all the arguments for or against an issue without stopping to think it through and get all the perspectives.
Instead of writing another controversial article, I want to shift our focus. I want my heart to be in the state that Ben and Robin were when they wrote this song. I know that God saved me. He has given me assurance that no matter how many times I fall (which I do frequently, as much as I hate to admit it), He will catch me. I can never fully understand how much it cost Him to offer that to me.
I swim in your deep love. Beautifully poetic. Close your eyes and imagine a sea of love, like water, surrounding you, so you are unable to do anything but breathe it in. How wide does it stretch? Who else gets to swim in it? Who cares? Just spend some time swimming and stop worrying about everyone else. (I’m not saying to ignore the Great Commission, but wait until you’re hands and feet are all wrinkled like prunes.)
God is good. We will never understand why He does everything He does, but we know He is good. Why is He good to me? I don’t deserve His love. I didn’t do anything special. He loves me because I am His little girl.
I never understood this until my daughter Celeste was born. When she was three days old, I felt God speak to me more clearly than ever before. This amazing love I feel for her, He feels that and so much more. At that moment, I wrote a poem. As you read it, realize that God is looking in your eyes with this love.
For My Daughter
As I have been holding you in my arms
On this, your third day of Life outside of me,
I am overwhelmed with waves of emotion
So powerful, my eyes fill with tears.
This is the most amazing Blessing
God has ever granted, even when I never knew to ask.
If I could have imagined the Intensity
Of the Love I feel for you right now,
I would have exploded with Anticipation.
You are the most perfect, Beautiful thing
I have ever seen, my Angel.
You make me desire to reach Perfection,
To be the best woman I can be,
To teach you from the beginning of your Life
Who your Creator is calling you to be.
At this point in your Life, you have not achieved
Some great accomplishment;
You have not earned some great honor from this world.
You are simply my baby girl, still nameless,
So full of potential, limitless.
I will always be proud of you, always love you.
You are Mine in a way no one has ever been before.
As you walk through Life, storms will come,
I guarantee it.
Stand strong in the confidence of Who You Are.
I didn’t do anything to make God love me. He loved me before I was born. So I stand in confidence, knowing that I am His creation. I want to serve Him with my life in any way possible, not for my glory: for His. What does that look like? I could write hundreds of intelligent articles, pushing my ideas and telling my opposition how ignorant they are, but that suddenly has lost its appeal. I’d rather go swimming.
[Stephanie Lewis is a 23-year-old mother, writer, website designer, restaurant manager, song-writer and dreamer. Above all, she wants God to use her to build His Kingdom.]