The Father's Love

"Don't be deceived, my dear brothers.  Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:16-18

I will be speaking Monday night at camp to all of the girls and I wanted to write my thoughts down here before I did so.  I have been blessed with a very loving dad and a dad that I know will always be there for me.  He loves me unconditionally, supports my decisions, and has and will always be there for me.  I love him deeply and because of the love I have with my dad, it has made it easier for me to accept the love from my Father in heaven.  Some people have a hard time with accepting the love of God because their earthly father has failed them in some way.  I have never had this problem and I have grown up such a daddy's girl.  In this blog, I want to talk about a few instances with my dad that can easily be related back to our relationship with God.

When I was younger, I would sit on my parent's bathroom counter every morning and watch my dad shave.  I would time it perfectly so that I would get there just in time knowing that if I did, he would put some of his blue shaving cream on my nose.  I looked forward to this each day when I woke up.  Whether or not I was there, my dad was ALWAYS there first thing in the morning to shave.  I could choose to spend time with him or not.  God will ALWAYS be here for us.  We can choose to spend time with him and get to know Him better or we can choose to not spend time with Him. If we choose that path, then we will never get to know the full extent of His love and all of the many things He wishes to give to us.

My dad would get home from work about the same time each day.  I would hear the back door open and I would literally sprint from my bedroom into the kitchen and then jump straight into his arms.  Before I got too big, he would set me down and I would then cling to his leg and he would carry me back to my room like that.  This happened every day and it is one of my favorite childhood memories with my dad.  I clung to my dad each day when he got home from work.  In the same way, God wants us as His children to cling to Him and seek Him for comfort.  In the life we will have hardships and struggles but God wants us to rely on Him and cling to Him when the going gets rough.  I love sprinting into my dad's arms because I knew that he loved me, he would protect me, and that he wanted the best for me.  God loves you, will always protect you, and wants the best for you.  Sprint into His arms that will always be held wide open for you.

Also when I was younger, I had this heart shaped paper.  One day during church, I wrote "I love you" on one and gave it to my dad.  He still has that piece of paper in his wallet.  He also still has a voicemail on his phone from last year when I sang him happy birthday on his birthday.  The cool thing about God is that He stores our prayers up in heaven.  In Revelation it talks about how our prayers are like a sweet incense to God.  Our prayers are a sweet fragrance to God and He remembers what we say and He stores them up in heaven with Him.

The love that our Father in heaven has for us far outweighs any love that we will receive here on earth. He created each and every one of us and loves us deeply and passionately as His creation.  God gave each and every one of us a dad here on earth to show us a small portion of the love that He has for us.  Some father's fall short and don't show their children the love that they should.  Regardless of whether or not we have loving father's though, God will love us unconditionally no matter what.  God longs for us to spend time with Him, God wants us to cling to Him always, and God loves it so much when we pray to Him that He stores our prayers up in heaven.  Accept the love that the Father has to show to you and when you do, you will find that it becomes much easier to keep moving forward...

Kelsey J.

P.S.- I love you dad!!!!