Wow.....So THAT'S love....

I've had the opportunity over tbe past couple of months to see life, love and most of all God from a different perspective. I grew up with a pretty good understanding of who and what God is and what it means to love Him.
What took me 30 years to understand is who I am and what it means to be loved by Him. Now, I'm no preacher, and if you read my blogs you know that I'm actually quite a spaz most of the time :) But something happened this past week that has me in a different place lately. 1 John 4:16 & 17 say "we know it so well, we've embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God. To love, to be loved, God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. 17. This way, love has run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day - our standing in the world is identical with Christ's." Wow!
I have come to understand that my one and only purpose in life is to love, to be a friend, a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold, and a heart full of compassion for the hurting. I have some very dear friends who are facing a very hard time, a time where, chances are, one of them will not survive thru the next month. These are people who have been shunned from a church because of their imperfections. Some would like to call them choices, but let's be honest, we all make choices and some are the right choices and some are the wrong choices - we all make mistakes, so let's call it what it actually is - imperfection.
Here are the things I do not know: 1) the state of their souls, I do not know if they have ever accepted Christ. 2) I do not know how long they have left on this earth 3) I do not know how to minister to the hurt that they have faced in their lives - since childhood. 4) I do not know how to deal with the death that might come, and if it does, how will I help the one that is left thru that time. So many questions and such a complicated situation - in so many ways. So when I think about them and how I can help, what I can do for them - I feel lost, completely helpless. During my devotions, when I read this passage in my Message Bible from 1 John, I just thought that that must be my answer! I am not expected to know anything, what to do or what to say. I think of Moses, who never had any sort of training or any kind of schooling on speaking at all - he had to solely depend on God to speak thru him.... hmmmmm... what a concept right?!
So, with my new "revelation", here's what I do know now: 1) I do not need to know the answers 2) all I need to do is let the love of God, that resides in me, radiate out of me into my friends. His love is definitely powerful enough to face anything, in life or death. All of the things that seemed so important to me most of my life are now completely irrelevent! The ONLY thing that matters is if I am letting God love thru me - if I allow that to happen, then "His grace is sufficient" to take care of the rest. :)