This morning I woke with a song already breathing in my spirit —

What a friend we have in Jesus.

Before thought could rise, before daylight could settle, the melody wrapped itself around me like a quiet visitation. I lay still, eyes closed, letting the words move through me like a warm current:

“What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer.”

And as I whispered those lines back to Him,

I felt the truth settle deeper than memory —

we carry needles of pain

that He already bore on Calvary.

We clutch burdens He has already lifted.

We nurse wounds He has already healed.

We hold grief He has already carried to the cross

and left there.

In that stillness, I sensed Him saying:

“Let it go.

You don’t have to hold what I have already redeemed.

You don’t have to bleed where I have already bled for you.

Bring it to Me — all of it —

because friendship with Me is freedom.”

We carry our mishaps like private burdens, as if we’re supposed to fix ourselves in secret. We act as though our struggles are ours alone to untangle. But has God ever asked His people to walk alone?

Did He not stand with the children of Israel when the desert stretched endlessly before them?

Did He not pour mercy over them again and again, even when they wandered, doubted, and rebelled?

His patience became their shelter. His faithfulness became their compass.

And if that wasn’t enough, He painted His love in the most startling colors when He told Hosea, “Go, marry Gomer.”

A prophet bound to a woman who would break his heart —

all so God could say to His people,

“This is how deeply I love you.

This is how fiercely I pursue you.

This is how faithfully I stay, even when you run.”

So why do we think our failures are too complicated for Him?

Why do we clutch our shame as if He hasn’t already shown us the lengths He will go to rescue, restore, and redeem?

The God who carried Israel,

the God who chased after Gomer through Hosea’s tears,

is the same God who carries us now —

not reluctantly, but relentlessly.

We are not different. My friend, if you feel you can’t approach Him, do not believe the lie that comes from the enemy.

He first loved us…

Before we ever reached for Him,

He was already reaching for us.

Before we learned His name,

He had already whispered ours.

Before we took our first trembling step toward grace,

He had already run the whole distance of Calvary to meet us.

His love didn’t begin with our obedience,

our repentance,

our devotion,

or our understanding.

It began with Him —

with a heart that has always burned for His children, with a mercy that outruns our failures,

with a tenderness that refuses to let us go.

He loved Israel in their wandering.

He loved Gomer through Hosea’s heartbreak.

He loved humanity while we were still tangled in our own darkness.

And He loves you —

not because you are perfect,

But because He is love.

Because loving you is His nature,

His joy,

His eternal choice.

So when we say, “He first loved us,”

We’re really saying:

“I am held by a love older than my mistakes,

stronger than my fears,

and deeper than anything I could ever offer back.”

“We love him, because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 KJV

Feel free to forward it to anyone you wish. My mission is to encourage everyone to follow our Lord Jesus Christ with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. ©Darlene J. Conard Vision Ministries 2026. This may not be republished or used without the author’s written consent. The photograph is AI-generated. Darlene J. Conard is also affiliated with Glory Carrier Ministries. If you have a prayer request, please email it to darlene.conard@hotmail.com, and my intercessors and I will pray.

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