Learning to Love Again

Somewhere along my years in college - helping hurt.  And I mean HURT. 

In the name of "serving, loving, helping" - something like that it hurt.  I was taken advantage of and it left the last two years of college simply miserable. 

I won't go into all the details, but ultimately, it left me with a guarded heart.  A heart that wanted to "check you out" before I helped, before I loved, sometimes even before I cared.

Over the years I've known that this isn't God's desire for our lives. 

He doesn't desire for us to be hurt - ultimately, though - because of sin - sometimes we are.

He does desire for us to love, to serve, to reflect Him in our actions. 

Ultimately, through this situation I've learned that you have to love, even when you've been hurt - its hard - but we are called to love others.  It's important to be careful and not to allow others to take advantage of you, to set boundaries and stick to them, even when it seems nearly impossible - but its important to not miss out on the love God has for us through serving others.

So, today on this Valentine's Day, I'm reflecting with a little less guarded heart, a heart that is healing from a massive hurt, and a desire to spend the next year continuing to love others.