I love you as you are

“God doesn’t love us if we change, God loves us so that we can change.” (Richard Rohr; Breathing Under Water.)
​This quote really struck me.

The change that has happened in me, and continues to happen, is being able to receive God’s love and to feel it. To know that I’m not separate, and to hear inwardly: “I love you as you are, for who you are.” That has been life-changing for me.

It has been a movement from fear to trust, from darkness to faith. Before, it felt like I had to live with my barriers up, always defending who I was, looking out at the world through scared eyes. But I continued to ask God, “Show me the world You want me to see. Let me see the world through Your eyes.”

What started to happen when I finally surrendered to that love was joy, kindness, and an inner feeling that I can’t manufacture for myself, something I’ve never been able to orchestrate on my own. I started to feel able to accept and love who I am for who God wants me to be, not who I thought I had to be.

I remember hearing lyrics from a song: “You say I am loved when I don’t feel a thing. You say I’m strong when I feel weak.” That resonates deeply with me. It’s like having a presence within yourself that can see perspectives I sometimes cannot see on my own. When I continue to turn towards God and ask for help, I’m shown different perspectives on things I was blind to before.
“I was blind and now I can see. I was lost and now I’m found.”

The changes that have happened within me are not things I’ve been able to do by myself. I sought support in many different ways, and I was met with kindness, but until I could feel that love inwardly, there was still a hole in my soul. It was in turning to God, and finally being broken enough to admit, “I can’t do this on my own,” that something began to change. I realised I was never meant to be on my own.

Slowly, the biggest and most incredible change has happened within me, and it continues to amaze me that when I am calm, when I am still, when I am able to hear, I get to see and feel God’s glory in multicolours.


Alice Deacon
Unity Reader

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