The start of a new year can be pretty exciting. It’s filled with new beginnings, hopes and goals. Instead of making resolutions, many Christians I know choose a word (connect, abundance, and discipline are a few examples) or a scripture verse to reflect and focus on throughout the year. I’ve chosen verse 1 John 3:1a “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we shall be called children of God!” Do not worry, this does not mean that I will speak only about this verse all year long! I’m so excited about this verse that I asked a friend who creates beautifully lettered artwork from scripture to create a piece for my office where I will be reminded of it every day. (You can see examples of her work on facebook at Letters of Grace by Megan.)
When you go to my website, under the title Melissa Pillone Speaks, you will find “~about God’s love, grace and forgiveness”. As someone who has felt broken, lost, alone and unworthy but now feels whole, found, cherished and worthy, I must speak about God’s love, grace and forgiveness. If there is one message I need to get across, it’s that God loves YOU! He loves you wholeheartedly, without a doubt, just as you are. No matter what you have done, how you have acted, who you have hurt, He loves you with great fatherly love. I was recently praying for someone who was “lost”. I prayed that God would hold this person in His arms, squeeze him so tight he would feel God’s unconditional love, forgiveness, grace and protection over him throughout his entire body. A great big bear hug! At times, I have felt God’s hug. He wants to give us all great big hugs if we would allow it. If you have time, I’d love for you to listen to the song “No Longer Slaves” by Jonathan David and Melissa Helser. You can find it on YouTube, performed by many different artists. It is one of my favorite worship songs. In it they sing “I am a child of God; I am surrounded by the arms of the Father”. I first heard it at a women’s retreat. As all the women in the room sang this song, I was brought to tears. Happy tears. I knew, I felt, I truly believed “I am a child of God”.
Even those of us who believe in and know God can experience moments where we question God’s love and presence in the midst of our pain. Pain is something that happens to all of us and during that experience we often pull away from God. I do not believe God pulls away from us. We are His children. If you are a parent, you know how awful it is to see your children hurting. We want to make that pain go away. We would easily switch places with our children if we could. We can’t. Instead, we stay with them, help them through their suffering and know that however awful it is, they will be stronger for it. As a parent, God is with His children while they suffer. As His children, it’s in the midst of our pain that we are possibly the closest to God. During this time He is using our pain to transform us. Although we can’t see the reason for the pain as it is happening, God has a plan and the power to reshape our lives and use our story to help others. Kerry and Chris Shook, in their book Be the Message, wrote “Sometimes pain is the ink God uses to write His message on our lives” and “We all have marks and scars from the mistakes we’ve made as we’ve gone through life. Yet God sees past them and knows our worth. He knows how they can become a life message of great value to others who are going through similar challenges.”
When I read 1 John 3:1 the word “see” really stands out to me. I want to remind myself to constantly look at my life and see the ways God has loved me. For those who haven’t felt God’s presence I want to take them by the hand and help them see God’s love, grace and forgiveness in their own lives. If this is you, please reach out to me. You can reach me through this site, facebook, instagram or by email mpillone@comcast.net . Likewise, if you have a scripture verse or word you have chosen for 2021 I’d love to hear what it is!
There is another scripture verse that begins with “see”. Isaiah 43:19. I think it will be a good one to reflect on this coming week. “See, I am creating a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Love, Melissa
PS. I just remembered another great song you should listen to! “Who You Say I Am” by Hillsong Worship.
Melissa Pillone Speaks 
I can totally relate to the paragraph about pain. After my daughter died a little over a year ago, I spent the last year being angry at God. I didn’t know that’s what it was until I realized it a few weeks ago. I expressed it as anger at the church and becoming hypercritical of every little thing I saw wrong with the church global and my local church. But when I finally realized that I was angry at God, not actually the church, it was like this conversation from Him of “it’s about time you figured that out. I knew it all along. Now stop your tantrum and come on over and let’s talk about it so you can stop making yourself mad at all those other people.” He never left me, He was always there. And I know that His plan is greater than my plan for this life.
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Grace-filled words, Melissa, full of loving encouragement. Thank you.
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