Expecting the Unexpected at a Baby Shower

It all started when I had that dream, several months ago...a dream in which my pastor preached a sermon entitled, "Expect the Unexpected from Unexpected People."  Some may scoff, thinking a simple dream couldn't possibly revolutionize a person's life...but this particular dream certainly did mine.   

"Expecting the unexpected" demands faith...not just saying, "I believe," but letting go of normal and routine to grasp the unknown and sometimes unacceptable.  It means disappointment when you fall back into the rut of expecting the expected. Yet the results are amazing blessings...beyond anything one could ever imagine.   

"Expecting the unexpected" has become the theme of my life, in conjunction with my desire to be a part of whatever it is God wants to do in and through me. My heart cry is to be an unexpected person in the lives of those I come into contact with, never missing an unexpected opportunity made possible by God.     I've seen God open doors for me to minister to--and be ministered to--by people I would have never before expected.  He has formed relationships in the most "unexpected" of circumstances, using the most "unexpected" resources.  

One such unexpected experience came just a few weeks ago when I got an email from somebody who is very dear to my heart...almost like a daughter.  

She had joined our family for dinner around Christmas but then had been busy for several months. So, we had communicated only online or by phone until June, when we celebrated her birthday.  We met again in July and all seemed well as we laughed and talked over some delicious cheesecake.  

So, yes, it was very unexpected, when on August 1st, I got an email from her, informing me that she had a three-month old daughter.  Her heart was breaking...as was mine.  We met a few days later and I learned that she had nothing for her precious baby girl...not even a crib.  (She was sleeping in a borrowed car seat.)  My heart was in prayer prior to and during our entire time together, longing to be so filled with Christ's love...a love that doesn't condemn but points her to Him so that she may go and sin no more.

I felt God leading me to have a baby shower for her and her precious daughter.  This shower was about much more than meeting the material needs for her baby.  The greater need was that she be showered with pure unconditional love.  I knew she had few friends and that meant a huge step of faith for me...faith that God would provide her many needs...faith that people would respond. 

I approached her with the idea of the shower and she melted with disbelief and gratefulness that I would do such a thing.  With her permission, I would invited several of my friends to the shower.  

I had never asked people to reach out to a total stranger, in this capacity, before.  Yet, I knew God was calling me to do it.  I truly believed this was one of those "expect the unexpected" events and only God knew who was to be there and who wasn't. So, I prayed about who to invite and sent out the invitations, trusting God to lead those He wanted involved to participate in whatever manner they could. The enemy tried to attack and thwart in so many ways--even a threat from the baby's father to cancel the shower--but I continued in prayer and stood firm...expecting the unexpected.

None of her friends made it to the shower.  She was nearly in tears an hour beforehand, and was hesitant to come, when she found out the last of her friends wasn't going to make it.  I persuaded her to come on, knowing a little of what what awaited her.  She definitely got some unexpected--and much needed--encouragement that day.

I cannot begin to describe the joy that was evident in her face as she opened the many gifts people she didn't even know gave her and her baby.  Every need she had was met...and then some...a swing, crib, glider (rocker), Bumbo, exersaucer, blankets, stroller, sling, toys, sheets, towels, and more clothes than she could have ever hoped for or imagined. 

When God speaks to people and they obey, His work is accomplished.  She was blessed beyond words!  As we helped her set things up at her apartment, she could not stop thanking me, expressing how much it meant to her.  She experienced love like she has never known.

I had no intention of gaining anything from this shower; the thought never even crossed my mind.  This was all about God meeting her needs...it was about her feeling loved and encouraged...or so I thought.  So, it was certainly unexpected when I found my own self relishing in an abundance of love and encouragement that night...and the days following.  

My own heart was filled to the brim and overflowing with the love that my friends had poured out on some one so dear to me.  For you see, when they loved her, they loved me.  That must be how God feels when we love His children..."when you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me."

O Lord, My Lord

O Lord, our Lord, how Majestic is Your Name, in all the earth.  

My own words are few this morning, Lord as I search for words to offer back to You for the many who are once again on my heart.  I am so thankful to have Your Word...words of truth...words of life...words of hope...words of peace...when I have no words of my own.

Be near to the many brokenhearted, saving all those who are crushed in spirit.  May those who are so downcast in spirit right now, put their hope in You...the Living God. May they pant for You, as a deer does for water. Direct them with Your love by day and sing over them with Your song at night.  

I pray they seek You first for all their needs, knowing that You are El Shaddai--their all sufficient one--and You will supply all their needs...adding all things unto them.  I pray they will wait upon and put their hope in You and as they do that You will renew their strength...proving that You indeed are strong when they are weak...that Your strength is made perfect in weakness.  I pray they will run into You...their mighty strong tower.  

I pray they will put on their armor daily, not forgetting any part...the shield of faith...breastplate of righteousness...feet shod with the gospel of peace...helmet of salvation...feasting on Your Word which is their sword....belt of truth to counteract those lies of the enemy...and above all to cover themselves in prayer.  And I do pray that they will know the truth. So many are being deceived by lies. I pray they will know Your Word--the Truth--for in knowing the truth, they will be set free.  

I pray they will learn to persevere through trials...knowing that You have allowed them to perfect them...so that they may be made complete, lacking in nothing.

Father, thank You for sending Your Word to heals us and for healing wounded hearts...every so tenderly...ever so beautifully.  What a beautiful event when two young women recognized unconditional love--probably for the first time in their lives--this past weekend.  Thank You for allowing me to witness that, firsthand. 

Thank you for being who You are.  O Lord, My Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

I Am Has Sent Them

Lord,

You are Jehovah, I am that I am, the self-existing one.  We call upon Your name and You answer...again and again and again.

Less than a week ago, A's situation seemed so hopeless apart from You...and a powerful (not to mention expensive) attorney.  We sought Your face for wisdom and You supplied it; we interceded for favor and You granted it; and we asked Your Holy Spirit to convict and He did.  You showed up and did what only You could do, reuniting A with her precious baby...right where she belongs.  

And You didn't stop there.  You are stirring up the Christian community to answer the call to love on A and provide her many needs to make her apartment a home for B...responding beyond anything I could have ever hoped for or imagined.  I can hardly wait for A and B to get here for the shower on Sunday.  When she asks who sent the abundance of gifts, my reply will simply be, "I am that I am has sent them."

Love in our Home

The past two weeks I've been given the opportunity to love as Jesus would, to a young gal who, as many--Christians included--would say "messed up big time"...a precious girl who has never known unconditional love...a hurting child of God who needed somebody to say "let him who is without sin cast the first stone but that certainly isn't me so neither do I condemn you, now let me help you go and sin no more".

Oh what a rich experience it has been, loving on her out of the love that Christ has lavished on me. I am able to love only because He loved me first (1 John 4:19)

What has made it even more beautiful is to hear her tell me how my own children have also poured their unconditional love out on her...without my knowledge. Two of my girls don't even live at home anymore, yet, knowing of her situation have reached out in such priceless expressions of love...a text from my 22-year old daughter; an e-mail from my 19-year old; lots of hugs from my 17-year old and promises to help her out anytime she needs it.

Christ's love has been pouring out in abundance both within and beyond the physical walls of our home.

Teach me to Love as You Do

I was thinking today how sometimes it hurts so much when your love for somebody is rejected.  It makes me so sad to see people push my love away, not knowing how much I care about them...not understanding how deeply I care...rather somehow misinterpreting something I've said or done as anything but love.

Then, I thought how that must be for God sometimes...to love so deeply and yet be rejected when I don't understand His love and feel like He's hurting me, instead of loving me...thinking He's being cruel and unjust when He is really doing what He knows is best for me...when in reality, He is loving me with a love deeper than anything I have ever imagined.

I'm sure glad I'm not God. I'm pretty sure I'd have withdrawn and quit loving a long time ago. Teach me to love as you do, Father...even when rejected, even when misunderstood, even when it hurts. 

Quito Trip Update

Dear Praying Friends,

I arrived home late Saturday evening, July 17th, and immediately hit the ground running. My youngest daughter, Rachel, left on her own mission trip the following Saturday (and is currently serving in Mexico). I also had to prepare to teach our women’s Sunday School class this past Sunday. I feel like I am just now having a chance to catch my breath and process all that God did during my week in Quito.

It is hard to briefly summarize the trip, as any of you who have ever been on a mission trip can attest to, I’m sure. I will do my best, however. One thing that was an over-riding factor throughout the trip was seeing how God showed up and answered our prayers every time we called upon Him…and how quickly our team did call upon Him for our every need.

Johanna, our team member from Columbia flew through customs without even being asked to show her documentation…all while we were praying. (For more on that story, read the first day’s entry on our team blog—quitoteam2010.blogspot.com.) We arrived at the school to do VBS, on the first day, and were told we couldn’t do it. We prayed and within five minutes were setting up for VBS…also described in more detail on the blog. One of our team members got very sick and we thought might have to go to the hospital. We prayed and the next morning was up before any of us and ready to go work in the garden. Another team member couldn’t find her passport, the night before we were to return back to Texas. We prayed and within a few minutes the passport was found. These are just a few of the many times we turned to Him and saw Him answer, as only He can do.

I was so excited when we attended the Dios el Fiel church on Sunday because in preparing the music for VBS, I had learned enough Spanish to understand a lot of what the pastor was saying. He spoke about the fact that no problem is too big for God. He is grande (great), fuerte (strong), poderoso (powerful) and magnifico (magnificent). He is Lord of all and there is nothing He cannot do. We need to keep our focus on Him. This seemed to be a theme for me throughout the week.

God specifically touched my heart through the children and women to whom we ministered, as well as through the beauty of His creation in Ecuador. We ministered to children at a school—Amor y Esparanza—as well as children along the streets of Quito.

Many people make a living selling goods along the streets. While doing so, their children sit (or play) right along the curbs and medians or these busy streets. We even saw children as young as five or six selling goods too. It is a heartbreaking sight to see. One of our missions was to distribute sack lunches—consisting of a sandwich, milk, and tract—to these children and to tell them “Jesus te ama” (Jesus loves you). It was very likely that was the only meal they got that day.

 

Amor y Esparanza is in the most poverty stricken area of Quito. It is a private, Christian school for children whose parents could not otherwise afford a good education for their children. Some come from Christian families, but most are there simply to get a good education. These children were a true example of loving unconditionally. They sure knew how to love and also how to receive love. They are so needy and craving for love. They soaked in every ounce of love we had to offer them…both ours and the love of Jesus.

Wow! Did they know how to worship! I was not prepared for children who sang and worshipped like they did. I was in charge of the music and expected to teach them. Instead, they taught me. These precious children—girls and boys of all ages—would wrap their arms around each other, raise their hands, or bow their heads in prayer, without any cue or instruction from us, as they sang their hearts out to the Lord in praise and worship. It was one of the most touching moments, as I fought back the tears every single day.

On the day we presented the message of salvation, this little girl, Genesis, shared with her group leader that she had heard about Jesus dying on the cross ever since she was a little girl. However, she finally understood what it meant for her…for the first time. Genesis is now a child of God. Her mother was weeping as she was thanking me on the last day…great, uncontrollable, tears of joy.






I had the opportunity to work with the moms one day. Johanna, who speaks fluent Spanish (being from Columbia), shared her testimony and then we helped them make tote bags. Though, I could communicate very little with words, the women really connected through smiles, touch and love…just as their children had. Again, I feel I was blessed far more than I blessed them when they were leaving and began thanking me…not only for helping them but for working with their children.

This woman was a mom and also on staff at the school. God prompted my heart to really reach out to her everyday, letting her know how much we appreciated being able to serve at the school. She was always smiling, yet was heavy on my heart everyday. She wept on the last day as I thanked her (through a translator) for allowing us to come and then thanked me for all we had done. I found out later that day—back at the dorms—that on our first day, she had received a phone call and had asked one of our team members to pray for restoration of her family. Please continue to pray for her. I don’t know her name…God does.

I mentioned near the beginning of this letter that God touched my heart through His creation. Many of you know how much I love the mountains of Colorado and am always ready to return there as soon as I get back to Texas. I fell in love with the Andes Mountains of Ecuador, much the same. And yes, I am ready to go back!

One of our final days in Quito, I went to the roof of the dorms for my quiet time. As I watched the sun rising, with the majestic mountains towering over the city, God really spoke to me and I wrote the following prayer.

                                           Father, 

How refreshing it is to start my morning outdoors, relishing in the beauty you have created. Even in the midst of this city, filled with barking dogs, honking horns, all too close airplanes landing and departing, and the never-ending sirens, your majestic mountains rise amidst the low clouds and beaming sun. What a great reminder that you ARE grande, fuerte, poderoso and magnifico! You are greater than the poverty, more powerful than the corruption; stronger than the crime. You are magnificent and Lord of ALL! You are the creator of the universe-of these mountains and of every man, woman and child living here…and you love them dearly.

Whether I am in Quito, Ecuador or Fort Worth, TX, God is still God. He is still grande, fuerte, poderoso, and magnifico. He is still fiel (faithful). And He is still God in each of your lives as well. I pray you will join me in expecting the unexpected in your own life, as you pursue the mission God has for you…wherever you are.

Thank you for all your prayers and your support. I could not have gone on this incredible journey without each of you. You were a vital part.


Debbie Guinn

PS Yes, that was me, hanging upside down from a zip line, over the cloud forest…and yes, it was intentional.

Oh How Natural It Is

This is an article I wrote in January 2009 that is the basis for the class I taught this morning.  It is Part 3 of a three part series, entitled Understanding the Father's Love.  Click on the links, within the article, to read Parts 1 and 2.  

Our Response

Oh How Natural It Is

^©By Debbie Guinn 
"We love because He first loved us.”

1 John 4:19

Last January—January 6, 2008, to be exact—our pastor preached a sermon that has continued to make an impact on my life, even today.  This sermon, titled “Resolutions to Remember” was not your ordinary new year’s resolution pep talk.  It was taken from Matthew 22:34-40 and he challenged us with two resolutions that we not only should make but also showed us how those were resolutions that we could keep all year long…and longer. 

In Matthew 22:37, Jesus tells the Pharisees that the greatest commandment in the law is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  Our number one resolution should be to love God with all of who we are…with every single fiber of our being.  Our pastor explained how we often try to put God as our top priority, placing family, friends, careers, etc. in a priority list under Him.  However, that doesn’t work because we often end up separating God out from those other things.  He explained that loving God should be our defining priority—like the center of a wheel—with all of the other things in our lives stemming out from Him (like spokes).  When loving Him is our defining priority, it will influence every other relationship and commitment we have in our life.

Jesus goes on in Matthew 22:39 to say that the second greatest commandment is to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  Many people have used this verse to say that Jesus is telling us we need to love ourselves before we can love others.  However, that isn’t what Jesus is saying.  He was talking to the Pharisees who had no problem loving themselves; they thought quite highly of themselves already.  Jesus is saying that we are to love others in the exact same way that we love ourselves…to elevate others to the same level we value ourselves. 

Notice that verse 40 says “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."  Think about that for a minute.  If I steal, bear false witness (lie), commit adultery, dishonor my parents, covet, etc., my attitude is in a place that says I am of more value than you.  Do you see how all these commandments are summed up under this one?  The Pharisees had created hundreds of laws but all of the God given laws go back to these two commandments right here.

I am constantly amazed at God’s perfect timing.  I have longed to finish the series I started back in June on Understanding the Father’s Love.  Month after month, I have sat down and tried to write this third segment but God has redirected me to another topic.  Today, however, I see how perfect His timing is as I remember just how much He taught me in this very area one year ago today when He convicted and challenged me in my own heart to respond to His love for me by loving in return.

Understanding my Father’s love has been a step by step process for me…one where each step has built on the other. Since it has been so long since I’ve written on this subject, I do want to do just a brief review of what I’ve talked about already.  The first step for me was to fully understand that father/child relationship with my Father…to see myself as a Daddy’s girl.  To read more about this, check out the June article, Daddy’s Girl.  Once, I clearly established that relationship, I began to understand more of the width and length, height and depth of Christ’s love. As I did, I found that I was able to trust God more and more with my life…finding that His love for me was perfect and perfect love does indeed cast out all fear.  My July article, Freedom from Fear, talked about the incredible freedom from fear that I have found as I have learned to trust His perfect love for me.

That brings us to this article.  As I began experiencing freedom from fear, that freedom went far beyond the basic fears of something terrible happening to one of my children, financial ruin, etc.  I also found myself free from other fears such as the fear to love.  I opened my heart to God’s love, trusting in His perfect love, and discovered I was no longer afraid to love…to love not only God but others as well.  So, how could understanding my Father’s love for me enable me to love others without fear?

I didn’t exactly jump from understanding God’s love for me to being able to love others.  It began with loving Him, first and foremost.  Loving God actually came somewhat easily once I understood just how much He loved me.  It really isn’t hard to love those we know truly love us; it just seems to come naturally once that trust is developed.  When we know we are loved by a parent, spouse, or friend, our natural response is to love them in return.  It is the same with God.  The more I comprehended just how deeply God loved me, the more in love with Him I became.

Last January 6^th, I made a commitment to God to make loving Him my defining priority. That sermon made so much sense to me.  I had tried for years to make Him my top priority and always failed because I never knew how to find time for all the other important things in life without setting Him aside.  When I heard that simple concept of making Him the defining priority, rather than the top priority, it all made sense.  My constant prayer this year has been that loving Him would be at the center, influencing every single thing that I do.

As I began to really focus on loving God, I noticed a connection between loving Him and being loved by Him.  I so wanted to love Him with every ounce of my being, not because I was commanded to but because the more I understood how much He loved me, the more I wanted to love Him in return.  It was just this natural sense of wanting—a yearning with all that was within me—to love Him in return.  I didn’t need a command to make me love Him…I longed to love Him.  1 John 4:19—“ We love because he loved us first.”—took on new meaning for me.

I am able to love, not only God but others as well, because He loved me first.  It is His love for me that enables me to love.  1 John 4:7-8 begins with a command to love one another.  However, it explains that love comes from God. I must first know God and be born of Him in order to love; I cannot love, if I do not know God because God IS love. As I learn to accept, receive and trust His love then I am free to love in return…and oh how wonderful that freedom is!

It doesn’t end there, though. 1 John 4:11-12 says “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”.  The word we get “complete” from in the Greek means "to bring to an end by completing or perfecting; to add what is yet wanting in order to render a thing full.”  It is in loving others that God’s love comes full circle so to speak.  All emptiness and longing to be loved is made full—is perfected and made complete—when I love others out of His love for me.

I am able to love because He loved me first. The more I understand God’s unfathomable love for me, the more I find it impossible to keep that love to myself. I am free to love and long to love God with all of my heart, soul and mind and to love others as myself. As I do so, the deep longing that I’ve always had to be loved is being filled to overflowing with the most perfect love imaginable…the love of my Father.

I challenge you to make loving the Lord your God with all or who you are your defining priority this year…your Number One Resolution. My second challenge is that loving your neighbor as yourself—placing the same value on others as you do yourself—will be your Number Two Resolution. If you can’t do those two things, then I pray that you will ask the Father to help you understand his love for you. (My two previous articles on Understanding the Father’s Love—Daddy’s Girl and Freedom from Fear—might help.)

May you Press in to Him in 2009!

Freedom From Fear

Freedom From Fear

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear….

1 John 4:18a (NKJV)

In my previous entry, I talked about how I came to see and believe that I was a “Daddy’s Girl.” That realization was the beginning of a journey in understanding my Heavenly Father’s love for me. One day, a year or so ago, I was studying Ephesians and ran across the following passage.

“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17b-19 (NIV)

I had heard that passage many times in my life but honestly never thought it possible for me to know that kind of love. In fact, I found it puzzling that anybody could grasp or know something that surpasses knowledge. How can you comprehend what is beyond comprehension? As I meditated on it, however, I found myself longing to know that kind of love…longing to be filled to the fullness of God. So, I said a very simple prayer that day, asking God to help me to know—really-know—Christ’s love in all dimensions. For I knew that the level to which I understood Christ’s love would also be the degree to which I would know my Father’s love for me. (John 14)

I have discovered that when I ask God for something that is laid out in His Word, He always gives me what I ask for. This request was no exception. God began to open the eyes and ears of my heart to see and hear things from His Word in a brand new way. I began to grasp the greatness of Christ’s love demonstrated in His laying down His own life for mine. (John 15:13; 1 John 3:16).

As I thought of Christ hanging on the cross, His outstretched arms represented the width of His love…arms spread to reach out as an invitation for every person from every corner of the earth to receive His love gift of eternal life. (John 3:16; Romans 1:16; Romans 3:29).

I began to understand the length of His love by realizing that His love is forever and ever. His time here on earth had a beginning and an end but His love never ends. His death may have been a one-time event, but the benefits of His death (salvation from sin and abundant life) are for eternity. His death wasn’t simply for those living in the days that He walked the earth…it was for everybody who will ever live and will receive His love gift. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15; Hebrews 2:9)

I meditated on the depth of His love in that He willingly left His Father in heaven and came to earth to suffer for sinful man. During His 33 years on earth, He suffered ridicule, rejection, humiliation, abuse…He suffered every form of suffering possible so that He could identify with us—and we with Him—in our sufferings. (Hebrews 2:10,18; 5:8; 13:12) More than that, this man, who was God—perfect and without sin—took upon Himself my sin (and the sin of every person ever to live), and then He descended to the depths of the earth. (Ephesians 4:8-10; Matthew 12:40)

The exciting thing is that Christ’s love doesn’t stop with His death on the cross; it doesn’t end with Him going to the deepest of deeps for me. Christ rose from the depths of hell and the grave and then He ascended to the highest of highs to prepare a place in heaven for me. (John 14:23) The height of Christ’s love is demonstrated in the fact that all of us have the opportunity to join Him in heaven one day.

I spent months reflecting on Christ’s love for me and discovered that it truly is impossible to separate Christ’s love from the love of our Father. After all, Jesus tells us in John 10:30 that He and His Father are one. Furthermore, it was because of God’s love for us that Christ came to earth, suffered, died and rose again. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son…” (John 3:16). “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions…” (Ephesians 2:4-5). “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9). “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7)

As I thought about the far-reaching, never-ending, deep love of God demonstrated in sending His son for me, one thing began to really pierce my heart. When Christ took the sins of the world upon Himself—becoming sin itself—He was, at that moment in time, separated from His Father. (2 Corinthians 5:21; Matthew 27:46) God—because He is God and cannot look upon sin—had to turn His back on His own Son, whom He deeply loved. (Habakkuk 1:13) I love my children immensely and cannot fathom turning my back on any of them for any reason, especially not for other wretched, sinful people. That God would do that very thing is, to me, the greatest demonstration of love. Even as I write this, I am filled with such emotion, knowing that God loves me that much.

You may be thinking “okay, this is great but what does it have to do with freedom from fear?” Well, we’re getting there.

As I began to grasp just how much God loves me—enough that he would send His son AND turn His back on Him while He took my sins upon Himself—I began to realize that I had no reason to fear anything. A God whose love for me is that long, wide, high and deep is not going to allow anything to happen to me that is not for my good. His plans for me are for good and not harm…they are plans for hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11).

If I find myself in the midst of the fire or flood, I have no reason to fear (Isaiah 43:1-2) because I know that God is always with me; (Isaiah 41:10; 43:2); He will indeed work everything out for my good (Romans 8:28); and I can overcome anything through His love (Romans 8:37). I know, without a doubt, that nothing—not even life, death, angels, demons, my current circumstances, or things to come in the future—absolutely nothing will ever separate me from the love of God. (Romans 8:38-39). Even when God chastises me, I do not fear because I know that God’s discipline comes from a heart of a Father who dearly loves me, His child. (Proverbs 3:11-12; Hebrews 12:5-11; Revelation 3:19; Deuteronomy 8:5.

I had lived in fear for most of my life. However, as I began to grasp the full dimensions of God’s love for me, all of my fear disappeared. His perfect love truly cast out all the fear that was inside me (1 John 4:18). It is hard to put into words the freedom I have now…a freedom that goes far beyond anything I could ask for or imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21)

When fear tries to work its way back into my heart, I immediately remind myself of just how much God loves me and the fear dissipates and is replaced with total peace. The following are just a few Scriptures (along with those I’ve referenced throughout this blog) that I use to remind me of God’s unfathomable, perfect, matchless love. I like to say (out loud, when possible) and meditate on these verses—personalizing them—as a constant reminder of God’s love for me…especially during those times when fear tries to creep into my heart.

Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV)

The LORD my God is with me, he is mighty to save. He takes great delight in me, he quiets me with his love, he rejoices over me with singing."

Isaiah 49:15-16 (NIV)

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, He will not forget me! See, He has engraved me on the palms of His hands; my walls are ever before Him.

1 John 3:1 (NIV)

How great is the love the Father has lavished on me, that I should be called a child of God! And that is what I am! The reason the world does not know me is that it did not know him.

1 John 4:16 (NIV)

And so I know and rely on the love God has for me. God is love. Because I live in love, I live in God, and God in me.

Ephesians 5:2 (MSG)

Mostly what God does is love me. When I keep company with Him, I learn a life of love. I observe how Christ loved me. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from me but to give everything of himself to me. I desire to love like that.

Exodus 15:13 (NIV)

"In your unfailing love you will lead me, one of your people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide me to your holy dwelling.

Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV

I know, therefore, that you, Oh Lord my God are God; you are faithful, God, to keep your covenant and steadfast love with me; I love you and keep your commandments, to a thousand generations,

Psalms 36:7 NIV

How priceless is your unfailing love! I find refuge in the shadow of your wings.

Jeremiah 31:3

…You have loved me with an everlasting love; you have drawn me with loving-kindness.

Daddy's Girl

Daddy's Girl^©

"What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we're called children of God! That's who we really are!" 1 John 3:1 (MSG)

Most little girls long to be a “Daddy’s girl.” I know I did. I can't tell you how deep that longing was or how desperately hard I tried to be just that. I would have done anything to gain my dad's love and acceptance. I would have literally jumped off the roof or gone and played in the traffic if I had thought it would help. However, nothing I did was ever good enough.

I felt like God had failed me. He gave me the need to be loved by a daddy, yet He didn’t give me a daddy who filled that need. So, I determined I would fill that need my own way. I watched other girls’ daddies love and dote on them and I imagined they were my daddy. I found fatherly qualities in teachers or youth leaders and turned to them as if they were my father. I had an extremely close relationship with my grandfather and found tenderness and compassion from him. However, the longing was still there and so the search continued. I tried to fill that longing with any man I met who showed any kind of love and acceptance of me for who I was…pastors and other father figures within the church…even bosses.

These different father figures did provide me with a sense of love and acceptance. However, the longing to be loved by my real daddy was still there. See all of these other men seemed to fade in and out, never becoming a permanent part of my life. Plus, they offered only bits and pieces for what I truly longed. None of them could love me enough to fill the deep well within my heart.

In April 2006, I attended a women’s retreat at our church. The first night of the retreat, the guest speaker, Debbie Dittrich, spoke about being a Daddy’s girl. She told us that God put the longing to be a Daddy's girl in all of us for a reason. He put it there so that we would yearn for Him. It is a longing that goes so deep that only God can fill it -- He did that on purpose so that we would want and need Him. Even if I had the most wonderful Daddy in the world, he could never fill up that deep, deep well because God designed it so that only He could fill it. All I had to do to be a Daddy’s girl was to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior.

I had accepted Christ many years ago, as a child. That meant……. I sat there that evening, fighting back tears, realizing for the first time in my life that I had a Daddy who loved me more than anybody else ever could. He desired for me to be a girl—His girl—when I was born. He desired me to be exactly who I am and He loves everything about me. He will never use me, abuse me or abandon me. He will love me with a love so deep—the only love deep enough to fill that longing inside of me.

I admit, it was hard for me to grasp at first. It was hard for me to comprehend much less accept that anybody—God included—could and would love me that much. See, I had developed the assumption that if nothing I did was good enough to gain my earthly father’s love and acceptance, then certainly it wasn’t enough to gain my heavenly Father’s love either. After all, He was perfect and surely expected nothing sort of perfection from me. That night, however, I chose to believe---regardless of how I felt—that I was truly a Daddy's girl.

If you are reading this and have never experienced the love of our Father God, then I encourage you to simply open up your heart and receive the love that He longs to pour out on you. Crawl up into His lap and let His love fill that deep, deep void that only He can fill. Maybe you have never trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior, and therefore, you cannot experience this type of Father-child relationship. If so, I invite you to receive His love, through His Son Jesus Christ, today.

John 3:16 says that God loved you so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for you so that you could live forever with Him. In 1 John 3:1 we read that God’s love for us is so great that He calls us His children. He wants to be your Daddy. He gave up His own Son so that He could be. Won’t you let Him come and fill your heart with His love?


To read more divine love stories, visit (In)Courage.