Remembering My first Love

" “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lamp stands:
 ² “I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. ³ You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.
 ⁴ “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!^[b] 5 Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. ⁶ But this is in your favor: You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, just as I do.

 ⁷ “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God." Revelation 2:1-7 (NLT)

I recently was able to go visit the first church that I called home. I was with my husband in the bronx and we were invited to a water baptism service. From the moment I entered the church building I began having flashbacks. I remembered wher I sat for the first 2 years of my walk with God. I remember the place where I accepted His Gift of Salvation. I remembered the altar where I walked up and stood before a giant of a man, my very first pastor and prayed the sinners prayer of repentance. And then as I watched the baptism candidates go one by one into the waters of baptism I remembered how my baptism felt to me more than 7 years ago. I even remembered staying up late the night before my baptism because I had promised the pastor I was going to read the gospel of John before the baptism and how I had procrastinated doing so until the last minute.Then I remembered commiting myself to my husband before the presence of God and my church family at that very altar. And then my mind began to speed up as I remembered the first human video I performed and the many lives that God had allowed me to impact in that place. And as I cried feeling the presence of God all around me the worship team began to sing "Because He loves me" and I snapped back to my reality and realized that the reason why I had started this journey in the first place was because I realized during that prayer mtg over 7 yrs ago that God loved me...once this thought had crossed my heart I realized that I felt so sad, not because God loved me but because in the business of serving Him I had forgotten why I served Him. In this world we will have troubles. God never promised us a rose garden here He did say thru His son that He would prepare a place for us. My challenge to you is to ask the Lord have you forgotten something important? Like how it felt to have no hope and then all of a sudden surrending to God and realizing how much you loved Him? Think about your first love the next time you get frustrated with your life. Remember that you are not where you were even if you still haven't arrived to where you're going. 

Isn't this Pic cute!