Day 5: The Safest Father in the World

The safest way through the Valley of Shadow of Death is not straight

The path to heaven is the journey of becoming a little child who sleeps without fear in the Father’s arms. How safe do you feel with God the Father? Are you able to climb up onto his lap and into his arms to feel his protective concern for you? He wants you to feel his powerful arms wrapping around you and creating a zone of extreme peace with you at the center. The proof of our existence is that God—somebody who is higher, somebody who is greater—is holding us, protecting us. (Saint Teresa of Calcutta) No one is loved fully in any human relationship. This is a normal flaw of the human condition. And it’s the source of much of our anguish. It’s why Jesus told us to forgive seventy times seven times (Matthew 18:22); in other words: more than we think is enough. And sometimes we have to do […] Read More

Day 4: Words That Make A Difference

Words can seem unfair

What words do you use that imply something about God that really came from the ungodly traits of the humans in your life? This is what we’ll look at now because it can make all the difference between a safe, healthy friendship with Abba-Father and a relationship that’s handicapped by misconceptions. Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, / Now I will arise,” says the LORD; “I will set him in the safety for which he longs.” / The words of the LORD are pure words; / As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times. (Psalm 12:5-6 NASB) The Christmas of my first bicycle was both delightful and frustrating. Delightful because I finally received what I’d been begging for. Frustrating because my younger sister got a bike too. Whenever I had pleaded, “Please can I have a bicycle,” my […] Read More