Last week we talked about how Jesus is our shepherd and what that truly means. This week I truly feel in my heart that God wants us to learn more about who He is to us. He is so many things to us and I feel like it all can be wrapped up into his role as our FATHER! The more we truly learn and understand who he really is to us the closer we truly feel to him. There are so many things he is not that we may be believing and sometimes those lies will push us away from the good good father he truly is. The devil loves to separate us from God in any way he can, especially if he can cause us to believe that God is something he is not. But today I want you to know and learn that God is a good father! I know all of our dynamics with our earthly father are so different. I know this subject can be sensitive. You may have a beautiful and healthy relationship with yours, you may have a distant one, you may be mourning the loss of your father, you may have had an abusive and traumatic relationship or you may have never met your father. All of these dynamics can and will affect the way you see your heavenly father. I want you to know that God is truly a perfect and loving God towards us and some of us know nothing about what that feels like and some may. But no matter what your relationship with your dad looks like I want you to listen in today and discover how God is a loving, perfect, caring, compassionate, forgiving, comforting, patient, calm, present and amazing father who wants nothing more than to embrace his daughter and whisper in your ear, “I am with you, I love you and everything is going to be ok!” I could honestly cry thinking of just how God is my father and all that it entails. I myself grew up with a very distant relationship with my dad. I saw him every couple of years, sometimes more frequent but not often. We talked on the phone every couple of months. It was messy honestly. My parents divorced when I was two and I never had the opportunity to go sit on my daddys lap and feel safe and comforted. That was literally a desire I’ve had my whole, to just sit in my dads lap. I had a step dad growing up for 14 years. He provided and he was there but there was never an emotional connection at all. I was afraid of him if we’re being honest. I’m grateful for him providing and taking care of our home and family in that sense but I never called him dad nor felt that closeness that I honestly did desire. I understand now as an adult that they just didn't know how and that's ok! I viewed God out of the lenses of my experiences for a long time, I saw him as distant, emotionally disconnected and just didn’t concern himself with my well being or emotions. But as I began to grow closer to God over the years God continuously would reveal himself to me as a father and show me little by little how he was those things for me in so many ways. In fact, he was better than any earthly father! So I wish that for you today, to see God as your father who wants nothing more than to be with his daughter and shower you with all his love!

--

To connect with Lauren, follow her on Instagram or Facebook @laurenahargrove