Many times in my life, tears of joy have streamed down my face uncontrollably.

Once, when I was watching Elizabeth, my stepdaughter, earn her yellow belt in Taekwondo, I found myself crying while watching other kids compete. The children grinned contagiously, pulling the joy out of every parent in the room. Mind you, I wasn’t watching Elizabeth compete yet; I was watching children I didn’t even know.

So why was I crying?

I can only suggest that sometimes the spontaneous love of God wells up in me, and it’s impossible to keep it in.

The same thing happened to me once while listening to a young orphan in China play his small violin for a group of visitors. We had just heard the story of how he lost his parents and came to live in the orphanage. He sat silently during the story, one tear sliding slowly down his cheek. Then he quietly picked up his instrument and soothed himself with it. He looked at me, and without warning, a flood of tears rushed down my face. It might sound ridiculous, but I felt as if I could literally feel his pain.

And the spontaneous love of God came pouring out of me.

Recently I was lying in bed, attempting to stave off nausea caused by pregnancy. As James read the book of Hebrews to me, and he noted the extravagant love of God sacrificed for the world, I felt my heart attempt to leap out of my chest and yelp for joy.

Maybe I’m an exception. Maybe most people never experience these kinds of moments.

What a terrible shame. Ever since I opened my heart to God and asked Christ to flood me with the only real Peace that exists, His love has been spilling over into everything in my life.

In My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers (in his devotion for April 30th entitled ‘The Spontaneity of Love’) asserts that,

“The evidence of our love for Him is the absolute spontaneity of our love. It comes naturally. In looking back, we cannot tell why we did certain things. We did them according to the spontaneous nature of His love in us. The life of God manifests itself in this spontaneous way because the springs of love are in the Holy Ghost (Romans 5:5).”

I’m forever grateful for His love and never plan on stopping up the springs that spill out of me from time to time. Unbridled love is nothing to be ashamed of.