by Danita Harris
       When I was a little girl, one of the first church songs I learned was "Yes Jesus Loves Me". You remember, "Yes, Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, yes Jesus loves me, for the Bible tells me so." I love that song because the words are so simple, yet powerful. Jesus loves "me"...little old Danita. Imperfect and flawed. There were many times in my life when I didn't love myself and yet knowing that God loved me, no matter what, helped me to see that I should love me too.

       John 3:16 states "For God so love the world that He gave his only begotten son, and who ever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." When I need reassurance as to how much God loves me, I go to that scripture. God gave His son Jesus to die for MY sins, for MY faults and for MY transgressions. That's a lot of love.

       You could be reading this right now and feel that nobody loves you. You believe you're so unlovable, that you can't even look at yourself in the mirror, because your reflection pains you. Well, I have good news for you. GOD LOVES YOU!!! And His love is unconditional. He doesn't love you on Monday and forget your name on Wednesday. He doesn't just love you when you can give $100 in church and not love you when you only have $1 to give. God's love is real and it's available for you.

       The Today's English Version of the Bible states I Corinthians 13:7 this way: Love never gives up, and it's faith, hope and patience never fails. We give up on people and many times we give up on ourselves. But God never gives up on us, His love is there and it never let's go. I guess you could say it's "stubborn".

       There's actually a song entitled "Stubborn Love". It says Lord aren't you tired of hearing me tell You how many mistakes I've made and how bad of a person I've been. I know that it pains you Lord to hear of my wrongs. I just seem to keep messing up. I ask for forgiveness and yet I go out and do the thing I've asked forgiveness for. How can you love someone who is so messed up?

       And then my favorite part of the song says God's stubborn love never let's go of us. Even when we can't understand how or why He would continue to deal with all of our mess. He's still there saying I love you. Long before you or I knew Him, he was loving us. That's the kind of God we serve.

       My prayer is that the love of God would consume me daily. Through knowing and experiencing God's love, I am able to love Him more, love others, and love myself. And if you're afraid that God's love will leave you, read Romans 8:38 "For I am certain that NOTHING can separate us from His love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below-there is NOTHING in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord."

       God's stubborn love embraces the worst in us. He's not letting go of you, so don't let go of Him.

Danita Harris is an anchor at WEWS News Channel Five and can be seen daily on Good Morning Cleveland and News Channel Five at Noon. She loves to write poetry, sing, and volunteer with The Girls Club of Ohio. Danita loves to encourage people in the Lord, and prays everyday that people would see the light of the Lord in her life.