A few weeks ago, my Bible study was going through an episode of Max Lucado's "Next Door Savior" in which one of the ending points was seeing God's love for us. And I really needed to see God's love for me.

Are You there? Do You love me? Do You see that life's not going the way I'd planned it? Do You see I don't get to use these gifts You've given me?

When I got home, I dug into a bag of Brach's conversation hearts. I smiled ruefully, thinking of last year when I told myself to imagine that each heart message was something God was saying to me. (Of course, only the "good ones" counted.)

It was maybe the fifth heart that I scanned before consuming, where I found the words, "I love you."

Huh. Funny.

A couple more hearts in, I found another one: "I love you."

Okay.

Okay.

And I haven't found any more since that night.