6 Ways to Remember God Loves You

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God loves all His children. This is one of the most fundamental ideas in Christianity. God is a personal, merciful, powerful and loving God. Christians know this in their hearts and believe it deeply. That said, even the most devout Christians have bad days where they wonder if God really does care about them. This question usually comes after a terrible event like the death of a loved one or when everything seems to be going wrong. In those moments, hopelessness can settle in your chest and make you wonder if even God has abandoned you. Christians know that He has not, but that does not mean they do not sometimes feel bereft of his love. In those moments, simply telling yourself that God cares is not always enough for you to really feel the truth of that statement. It can ring hollow without something to help you reconnect with the emotion behind it.

There are a number of ways to remind yourself that God loves you and help you feel His love again. Some of the most effective, however, are small actions that require very little time from you. Here are six ways to remember God loves you.

Count Your Blessings

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Sometimes the easiest way to remember that God loves you is by reminding yourself of the ways He has already shown you His love in your life. Think about the good things you have in your life, both the big and the small. Count a hot meal as a blessing. Count a safe home as a blessing. Count that your significant other is living as a blessing. Count that you are living as a blessing. Count your blessings and remember that they all came from the same place. God continued to show you His love when you felt hopeless in the past, and He will continue to do so now. You just have to be open enough to receive it.

Counting your blessings can also break a negative spiral of thoughts. If you find your mind running in circles or coming up with all the reasons that God does not love you, count your blessings to turn off your inner bully. You are worthy of God’s love, and He loves you. He has shown it in the past and He will again if you just listen.

Read Inspirational Scriptures

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Your Bible is one of your most powerful tools when you are dealing with any sort of spiritual crisis. When you are starting to wonder if God really cares about your insignificant life, pull out your favorite Bible and read a few passages. While they are worthwhile to read, you probably want to avoid those sections that deal with judgement or God’s wrath when you are already struggling to feel His love. Instead, find the verses that deal with God’s love and mercy, and read a few of those. You can read the entire chapter, the surrounding story or individual verses. The goal of reading from your Bible is to remind you that God is there, and He is listening. Simply reading the familiar words on the page might be enough to help you remember that God loves you. Otherwise, you might pick a favorite Bible story to read or open the book to a random page and start reading. There is no wrong way to read the Scriptures for inspiration. So long as you are reading and feel like you are growing closer to God, you are doing it right.

Avoid Negative Self-Talk

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Humans love to give their opinions. In fact, people like to give their opinions so much that most people have a running narration in their head that is composed largely of opinions. This storm of noise is constant, and when there is not another person nearby for it to fixate on, people tend to turn on themselves. This is unfortunate because a storm turned inward rarely has anything pleasant to say. Instead, it fills you with negative thoughts about yourself. Since people love to give their opinion, this constant deluge of negative self-talk can start to drown out God’s voice. You start to believe the terrible things you are saying about yourself.

Take a deep breath and stop. You are a masterpiece. God created you Himself, and when you employ negative self-talk, you are saying God got it wrong. He made you incorrectly. This, of course, is nonsense. Focus on thinking positive things about yourself so that your internal storm of negativity does not drown out the love God is trying to share with you.

Enjoy Nature

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When you are truly beginning to doubt if God loves you, some time spent in nature can be the best cure. The peace and quiet you find in the woods or along a deserted stretch of beach can help you clear the noise of daily life out of your head. When there is some more space between your ears, you can listen more attentively to what God is trying to say. You can feel His love more when you are not consumed with worries about work, your spouse or your children. Worries are certainly much harder to focus on when you are surrounded by birdsong or the sound of crashing waves.

Spending time in nature can also help you remember that God loved you enough to create you. He made the oak trees, the roaring waves, the thousands of birds that flit between the leaves, the colorful flowers in the field and He felt that you were special enough that His creation needed one of you.

Pray and Talk to God

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When you doubt that God loves you, who better to reassure you than God Himself? One of your first recourses whenever you are feeling spiritual doubt or encounter spiritual trouble should be to pray. Talk to God, and pray that you will remember how much He loves you. If you are feeling especially vulnerable, you may want to pray privately at home so that you can break down without feeling embarrassed. It can help sometimes, however, to pray publically. Go to a church service during the week instead of just on Sunday. If your church does not have services during the week, go to a small group meeting or a Bible study. You can also go to a different church if you prefer. Simply make sure that where you go to pray will help you connect with God. If the best place for that is a towering Catholic cathedral, go to an evening Mass in the cathedral. If you feel most comfortable kneeling next to your bed in old sweats and your slippers, pray next to your bed. What you have to say to God is more important than where you speak to Him.

Listen to Christian Music

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Music can have a huge influence on how you feel. Listening to upbeat music when you feel sad can lift your spirits. On the other hand, listening to sad music during the day can leave you feeling melancholy in the evening even if you had a perfectly good day. Given how easily music can touch your emotions, it makes sense that Christian music would be a good remedy when you are dealing with spiritual struggles. Upbeat and powerful songs will help raise your spirits and get you out of the dumps. The faith-based lyrics of Christian music, on the other hand, will help remind you that God loves you. Choose songs that deal with trusting Christ, God’s love or other similarly uplifting and inspirational messages. Listen to them in the morning while you get ready for work to both wake you up and help your day start on a high note. Then, you can sing them to yourself all day long and be reminded exactly how much God loves you.