Photo Credits~

(owl:donaldthompson95 on flickr, luna:BillLepidoptera/harkphoto.com on flickr, willow/fence:trensamiro on flickr, all remaining: Merana Leigh)

Psalm 25:4-5

Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths;

guide me in your truth and teach me,


for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long (NIV)





Drench yourself in words unspoken, Live your life with arms wide open,

Today is where your book begins, The rest is still unwritten. ("Unwritten" by Natasha Beddingfield)





It matters not how long we live, but how!



Monday, September 6, 2010

Arms Wide Open

If we believe that God love us equally, we understand that He loves all of fellow mankind who don't quite live up to the righteousness that we, as Christians, are called to do. And we need to realize that His love also transcends time. We cannot think for a moment that He loves us any less than the Israelites He saved over & over ... delivering them countless times (often from themselves!). So those promises He made to them stand true for us still. Just as He made a covenant with them, we are in covenant with Him. When I read in Scripture of how many times they turned their back on Him, yet He never left them...never stopped loving them, I am so reassured. Now certainly, He let them get what they had coming to them often...as any good parent would in order to teach their children a lesson of value. But never once did He turn His back on them, as they did to Him.

Remember the game "I love you thiiiiiis much!" with outstretched arms? Well, that's what God does! The only thing we need to do is lose our inhibition & run into those arms that are ready to scoop us up & pull us in to the most loving, welcoming, warm embrace that permeates our very being.
We need to let let go of looking at God solely as "Father", and start viewing Him as "Daddy"... a lap we can curl up into, lay our head against His chest, and pour out our hearts to find the solace for which we're crying out. Can't you just almost hear that heartbeat...boom-boom, My grace, boom-boom, My mercy, boom-boom, My love, boom-boom, My peace?!
Now I realize that this is almost like wrapping your mind around some type of fantasy. And I know it's especially hard for those who had/have an absentee dad, or an abusive dad, or even just a disinterested dad....much like Mack in The Shack.

For me, I have such distrust of men because I have been hurt so much by those I trusted most with my innermost hopes, fears, and dreams who used those things back on me as weapons. Or those who look upon me as strictly an object of lust, not affection - even those I thought were only friends. Or those so disinterested that I begin feeling insignificant/lacking in some way. But, God has been so patient with me. He opened my heart to see that that's why I wouldn't trust Him....because He was a "he". We're working on that road to recovery. He says now, "Don't be afraid to meet men. You don't have to trust them. Just trust ME with those people I bring into your life." I'm still not there yet...admittedly, a work in progress! Truthfully...I'm content to wait!

Always...this is where I chose to be! Ah, can't you just imagine yourself here?

8 comments:

  1. How thankful I am for a Father who loves me perfectly, not as the world loves, but better. I pray you know the lavish love of our Abba-Father as he heals and ministers to your heart in this season.

    Thanks for stopping by and leaving your kind thoughts.

    peace`elaine

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Merana,

    I'm glad you've found the loving arms of "Daddy". I believe that God knows and understands the extent of the hurts each of us experiences and He gives us His loving grace; which only Daddy can give.

    It's good to be a work in progess. Keep allowing Him to heal those old wounds and know how much He values you. As a man, I continue to read posts written by women about the hurts, pain and suffering they've endured at the hands of my gender.

    I'm often saddened by the things I read, and then I think of myself and I realize I've caused hurts too; perhaps not in the same way or depth that some sink to but I was selfish, and I wasn't good at communicating. I'm thankful that Christ is changing me, I'm no where close to the man He wants me to be but I too am a work in progress; for that I'm most grateful.

    As you journey along with "Daddy", just know that he will guide you in all areas of your life. When (or should) the season for you to meet someone come, I'm confident that the Lord will provide someone who values the woman/mother you are.

    Blessings and peace.

    MTJ

    BTW: Did you change the background wallpaper? It looks different. I can't believe I didn't notice it before. In any case, I like the pattern.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Merana:
    I'm so glad you stopped by! It lead me over to here and I LOVE what you said today! Such good truth that we need to KNOW all the time... a great reminder of just how much He loves us!

    I also see your video of Nick V. below... he is just an amazing life, isn't he?

    Blessings, I'll be back!

    Sonja

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've heard it is very difficult for a woman to trust God, if she's been hurt by a host of men in her lifetime, including her own father, perhaps. But how wonderful that He is patient and loving and never does anything intended to harm us. We can trust the One who laid down His life for us.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello, Merana. What soul searching words. I am constantly wanting to crawl up into my Father's lap. That's always been a source of peace and comfort for me with my earthly Fther so I now the loving, warm arms of God will be even moe so. What a comfortable place to be.
    Weezer

    ReplyDelete
  6. We can see Satan's fingers all over that which makes us mistrustful of men, can't we? He loves to put that stumbling block in our paths. I'm so grateful for a God who DOES loveingly sit with arms wide open no matter how many times we stomp our feet and refuse to come.

    I LOVE the picture that you drew of His heart beat. Just loved that... "this much".

    ReplyDelete
  7. Abba Father ... Daddy God ...
    I went through a time when I first came back to God when this exact revelation was the only thing that kept me. Every time I was in prayer I would imagine myself curling up in his lap and burying my head in his robes. When I worshipped I imagined him taking me out into a field to dance.

    I had spent so much time afraid to come back to him, afraid to come back to the stern rebuke of a "Father", but when I came back all I found was the loving arms of my Daddy.

    Isn't it wonderful?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love the fact that our God is a God of covenant...too many Christians have a "memory laspe" of the fact that we're in covenant with Him. It's good to see that you are not one of them Merana.

    ReplyDelete

Those who care to share...