THE FATHER’S LOVE

“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

As women, we celebrate often! We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, new babies, and weddings.  We cook, plan, and decorate in order to  make the person we are celebrating feel super special and very loved.  As mom’s of little ones, we celebrate every milestone that our child reaches. When they sit up for the first time, roll over, stand up, walk, talk, smile, loose a tooth, go to their first day of school, score their first soccer goal…..we go bananas! We take pictures and send them to our family and say, “Look what he just did! Woohoo!” I know throughout the years as I potty-trained each of my boys, we literally would have a dance party when one of them made even the littlest success! One of the things I love most about being a mom is that we get to be our child’s cheerleader and encourager.

Now take that perspective, and I want to encourage you, that your God who knows you intimately – all the good and all the yuck – who loves you completely no matter what, hoots and hollers over you in every little step that you take as you are learning to lean on Him. Author Joanna Weaver describes this sweet picture of Jesus’s love :

“I bring joy to the Lord. He rejoices over me when I believe Him for the impossible, trust Him in difficulties, and do what He asks even when I don’t feel able. ‘That’s my girl’ He says. ‘Did you see that ?’ He asks, turning to the angels and pointing to earth and to you and to me.”

He is cheering you on, step by step. You delight Him. You make Him smile. You give Him such joy. He is watching you at every moment and He is throwing a party and celebrating every time you choose Him. And in the moments when you feel like a mess, and you run to Him and just say, “Okay, God, I cannot do this on my own….please help me. I need you.”….It makes His heart so glad because that’s what it is all about – recognizing that we cannot do it on our own. So in your day today, remember that God sees your choices, your decisions, your prayers, your kindness…..and He is celebrating each and every step you take in His grace.

Prayer: “Thank you, Jesus, for showing me that I delight you. Thank You for showing me that I make you smile, celebrate, and laugh with joy! Don’t let me forget it.”