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Basking in the Love of God
Every day since my daughter Sydney was born, I’ve leaned into her ears and whispered, “You are my sunshine.” I’ve wanted her to know at the deepest part of her being that she is loved. I know firsthand how the enemy of our souls can creep in and distort this basic core identity. I know firsthand the devastating choices a woman makes when she believes Satan’s lie that she is “unlovable.”
It’s been a deep conviction that I speak the truth of God’s love over my daughter. She need not search for validation or seek to find it somewhere else, as her momma did. I firmly believe that human beings flourish in the soil of love … this is just how God wired us. I think the purpose of the family unit is to demonstrate the love of the heavenly Father. From this foundation of love springs healthy and whole individuals. Therefore, I aim to remind her daily that I delight in her, and so does God!
Yet, the war for our souls and for our identities is fierce. The liar (as Jesus called him) always stands ready to slip in doubt and cause us to question who and Whose we are.
This week, we were doing our typical bedtime routine, which includes Sydney taking a bath while I wash my face, brush my teeth, and get things organized for the next day. Since we share a bathroom, I was only feet away from her as she played with her bath toys and sang. When I turned around to lift her from the tub, I realized her splashing had soaked the bathroom tile floor.
As soon as I realized what was happening, I yelled in a frustrated tone, “Sydney, stop it!!” I hastily began to soak up the water with towels. At this, she began to sob—big sobs. Not the Academy Award Winning fake cry that she’s perfected this last year. No, this was a genuine hurt … deep in her soul.
Wrapping a towel around her, I asked, “Baby girl, what is wrong?” And her response broke my heart … She said, “I’m not your sunshine anymore.” She believed her actions of soaking the bathroom floor had caused me to not love her anymore.
It didn’t take a millisecond for the enemy to swoop in and plant doubt in her heart. A lie that suggested that because of a silly accident that I would cease to love her. Wrapping her up in my arms, I told her she would always be my sunshine, and there absolutely nothing she could do to change that. I explained that mommies and daddies have to correct and discipline our kids, but that doesn’t mean we stop loving them.
I can’t stop thinking about that moment… and that lie. Her shaky little voice saying, “I’m not your sunshine anymore.” The deep fear that she had done something that would keep me from loving her. I keep thinking of how we do the same thing with God.
Here’s the truth: Through a relationship with Jesus Christ, we are adopted into God’s family. Because of Jesus and the gift of grace, we are unconditionally loved. The Bible says that this “perfect love” casts out all fear. All fears that we will ever be abandoned, rejected, forgotten, or somehow out sin His grace are vanquished when we learn to rest in and receive God’s grace.
Yet, we too face an enemy, the Father of Lies, who plants seeds of doubt about God’s love for us. Satan wants us to believe that God’s love must be earned through perfection or striving. This lie, which is from the pit of hell, tells us that we are not, at the core of our beings, objects of love.
My passion and calling in life is to share with women the love of God available for us in Jesus Christ. I lived far too many years searching for it in all the wrong places, and my mission in life now is to spread the truth of God’s extravagant grace to anyone who will listen.
This is the precise reason I wrote For His Glory: Living as God’s Masterpiece. I wanted to teach women about God’s love that fights for them, rescues them, and gives them a new identity– calling us, His masterpiece. When I look at my own daughter and feel the surge of love for her, I know this is but a sliver of the way God sees and loves us. For His Glory is a verse by verse study of Ephesians, and my prayer is that it will help women see themselves as God sees them and for them to live each day as His masterpiece. This Bible study is dedicated to my daughter, Sydney. I pray these eternal truths shape and mold the woman she becomes as she grows in the revelation that she’s more than just her momma’s sunshine, she is God’s beloved!
Order your copy of For His Glory today and begin the journey of discovering who you are in Christ!
