Love Dare Day 19

Look back over the dares from the previous days. Were there some that seemed impossible to you. Have you realized your need for God to change your heart and to give you the ability to love? Ask him to show you where you stand with him, and ask for the strength and grace to settle your eternal destination.

Feel free to post your thoughts/experiences on this dare
The Love Dare starts with a secret. You have likely grown more suspicious of it all the time. Now that you are this far, it is a secret you are discovering. The secret is: you can not manufacture unconditional love out of your own heart. It is something only God can do. Because of his great love for you -and his love for your spouse- He chooses to express his love through you.
Still you may not believe that. You may be convinced that with enough hard work, and commitment you can muster up long term, sacrificial love from your heart. You want to believe it's in you. But how many times has your love failed to keep you from lying, lusting, from overreacting, from thinking evil of the person you've vowed before God to love for the rest of your life? How many times has your love proven incapable of controlling your anger? How many times has your love motivated you to forgive or brought about a peaceable end to an ongoing argument?
Its this failure that exposes mankind's sinful condition. We've all fallen short of God's commands (Romans 3:22). We've all demonstrated selfishness, hatred, and pride. And unless something is done to cleanse us of these ungodly attributes, we will stand before God guilty as charged (Romans 6:23). That's why if you are not right with God, you can't truly love your spouse because HE is the source of that love.
When you surrender yourself to Christ, his power can work through you. Even at your very best, you are not able to live up to God's standards. But HE "is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us." (Ephesians 3:20). That is how you love your spouse.
You may be feeling for the first time that you, too, have broken God's commands, and that your guilt will keep you from knowing Him. But scripture says that if you repent by turning away from your sin and turning to God, He is willing to forgive you because of the sacrifice His son made on the cross. He is pursuing you, not to enslave you, but to free you so you can receive His love and forgiveness. Then you can share it with the one you've been called most specifically to love.
The truth is you can't live without him, and you can't love without him. But there is no telling what He could do in your marriage if you put your trust in him.
*Other scriptures this dare mentions that may help you understand it better: I John 4:7, John 15: 5 &7, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 3:19, Ephesians 3:20, Romans 5:5) *