The heart of the Father

Something that I feel very sure about is the heart of my Father. Over this past year or so, my relationship with God has deepened in a new way. It may sound strange, but I feel like I have got to know Him better. My confidence is well and truly in Him because I know what He is like. For some people who have a bad experience of an earthly father, it can be hard to imagine what our Father God is like - we tend to imagine Him through the filter of our own experience. I, however, have got an amazing earthly father. My Dad is someone who has taught me how to love unconditionally, be generous at all costs, show kindness when you don't feel like it and so on - this reflects the heart of my Father in heaven.

Let me share a few examples of the heart of the Father.

1. He is kind.

Kindness is such an underrated thing - it makes such a huge difference when someone is kind to you and when you are kind to someone else. To say God is kind can perhaps not quite do it justice, but by His very nature He is kind - He can't help it!

If you read my previous post, you'll know that we had just got up to discussing whether to move in 2018 or 2017 (gulp!) and that we were aiming to know the answer by the end of the Easter holidays. Well, around that time, I met up with a friend of mine, Vicky. I was sharing with her just how terrified I was at the thought of agreeing to sell our house and then we prayed together. Vicky had this picture for me;

'You know that Indiana Jones film where he gets to the leap of faith bit and there's a deep ravine in front of him? He has to take the step off the ravine and then the bridge appears underneath him. As he takes each step it gives him confidence that the next one will appear. I feel that is what God is saying to you, that you need to take the step off the ravine, that feels scary but God will cause the bridge to appear underneath you - everything in you wants to throw sand out across the bridge so you can see it, but that's not how it will be.'

So how does that make God kind? Well I think because it shows that He cares about me and knows me well - He knows that I love to plan and look ahead and that I needed to hear that reassurance that He 'has this.'

2. He is generous.

This is an under statement! God is lavishly generous, He loves to bless His children. I can think of so many times when this has been true. But this year God has really spoken to me about His generosity.

My cousin is getting married on 1st July (this weekend!). In Canada. We were invited to the wedding, but as a family of 5 knew that it would be impossible for us all to go. Tim and I discussed it and thought that maybe I would just go with my parents. And then my Dad decided that we should ALL be there and that he would cover the cost for us. Amazing generosity. A number of things struck me about this. Firstly, to go back to God being kind - it is SO important to me to have a holiday and the thought of moving in Summer 2017 meant that it would be unlikely that we would go on holiday. God knows me well and God provided us with a holiday. Secondly, I really felt God speak to me through my Dad's generosity and say, 'this is a mere foretaste of my blessing, there is much much more to come.'

3. He is faithful.

This means that God will never leave me or forsake me, His love for me is the same yesterday, today and forever. When I was going through my divorce 8 years ago, my Dad made me a promise, he told me that no matter what, he wouldn't let me fall.

During the Easter holidays when I was praying about the move, God reminded me of this promise and I felt Him say it to me - He would never let me fall.

There's so much more I could say. I have felt challenged to focus on the attributes of the Father throughout these months as we look to move. As soon as I take my eyes off of what He is like, I feel scared. But He is my resting place, He gives me peace that goes beyond my understanding, He is kind, generous and faithful and always does what He says He will do.

Next blog post: And then we told the kids...