Saying I Love You Does Not Have to Wait for the Feeling
We often treat I love you as a report. A feeling is present, and the sentence describes it. But relationships rarely remain inside one feeling. Affection can coexist with anger. Care can coexist with disappointment. Love can coexist with distance, grief, disagreement, and unresolved history.
That makes another use of the sentence possible. I love you can be an act of relationship rather than a measurement of current mood.
This does not mean saying words we do not stand behind. Nor does love excuse harm or remove the need for boundaries. The distinction is between waiting for the perfect emotional state and speaking from a commitment that is larger than one temporary feeling. Sometimes the sentence belongs precisely in the difficult conversation. Not to erase what is difficult. To make clear what remains true while the difficulty is being addressed.
Love can be felt. It can also be spoken as a way of standing in relationship.