The Love of my Heavenly Father

"The Lord appeared to them from a distance: I have loved you with a love that lasts forever. And so with unfailing love, I have drawn you to myself." 
- Jeremiah 31:3
  
.
 
Since becoming a parent, my eyes have been opened in a new way to my own relationship with my Heavenly Father.

As a Mom, I watch my kids struggle, I watch them make poor choices and good choices, I cry with them, cry for them, cry over them. I also rejoice with them, have proud moments, enjoy life with them, and love them through the good, the bad, and the ugly.

It's through my love as a Mom, that I've been able to more fully understand how God loves me. When I get upset with the girls over a poor choice they made, I have to remind them that even though they are being disciplined, it's because I love them, and I won't let them continue down the path they're on. I have to remind them that in the discipline, I am doing what's ultimately best for them, even if momentarily it hurts. And lastly, I have to remind them, that even though I may be upset for a bit, my love for them does not change, and remind them that there is nothing they can do to loose my love. I know this is the same way my Heavenly Father loves me.

.

Though my love for the girls is imperfect, because I am imperfect, I'm so thankful God's love is not! God is perfect, and pure, and holy. The love He shows us has no bounds, has no limits, has no end.

I know that when my Heavenly Father is disciplining me, when He's pruning me, and shaping me, it may hurt for a time, but He's doing it out of love, and He's doing it for my greater good, refusing to let me stray from Him. I also know that He is patient with me, through my sin, and that He will never give up on me as I figure things out. This grace that He shows me, allows me to show grace to my girls, because if God is patient with me as a disobedient child, is there any way I can show anything but grace to my own children? I admit there are times that my patience is broken, and I fail, but God's love reminds me that I can keep going as a Mom, pick myself up, and try again.

My Heavenly Father is so good to carry my heart. He is with me everywhere I go, and through every circumstance. I know He wants what's best for me, and I know He is guiding me, helping me, and sharing in my joy and sorrow, whichever path I find myself on, just as I do with my girls. 

My God is a present God. He doesn't give me a list of rules, and then tell me I'm on my own. This is something I'm learning too in my parenting handbook. Children need to be reminded, encouraged, kept watch of, and led through life. You can't give them a list of rules and expect them to get to the end of life and finish strong, you can't abandon them, or expect too much of them. Our God understands that with us, and promises to never leave us or forsake us, and hold our hand every day for the rest of our lives until He walks us into Paradise with Him.

.

I'm so thankful for the example of my Heavenly Father. I'm so thankful for His perfect love, and the way He takes care of His children. My prayer today is that my own parenting skills will continue to be refined and tested, and that in the end, my children will know the deep love of their parents and their God.