Nothin' but Love

"When books attack" is what I like to call the minor trauma that Gia goes through when she falls victim to one of her cardboard paged books. Occasionally, Gia will close her finger into a book and as she's crying out in pain, trying to pull it out, she is simultaneously squeezing the book closed with her free hand. When she does this I have to shake my head lovingly and smile a little at how cute she is. A friend of mine said recently that this is how she imagines God is with us. When we mess up or slip into our old nature, God just looks at us, shakes his head lovingly, smiles, and maybe giggles just a little at how cute we are. Even when Gia is kicking when I'm trying to change her, or when she spits out her broccoli, it's endearing. It's fun to watch a child grow and to see the big picture, God thinks so too.
I grew up in the church. Some of my earliest memories are on the church playground and in Discovery day camp. So the knowledge that Jesus loves me has never been astounding, actually, it has been quite taken for granted. Sure, Jesus loves me and my parents love me and the sky is blue. It almost smacks of indoctrination; Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so. I've known how rad that is, and have appreciated it. Really. The creator of the universe loves me personally, that's big. Recently though, the beauty of this perfect love was made clear to me, the absoluteness of this wonderful truth made an impact. God's love is perfect! It's absolute, it's without fault, it's complete. It's hard to understand the completeness of this love because we are so imperfect in the way we love each other. We have conditions, our own agendas, we see faults, but the Lord does not. His love will knock your socks off!
I am blessed to be associated with this totally awesome prayer ministry. These people are so gifted and hear and see the Lord clearly while praying. I had never been prophesied over or been given words so directly from the Lord until I was prayed for by them. There I stood, taking God's love for granted, abusing the very grace by which I live and He completely showered me in love; "My beloved", "my love", "dear one", "I am well pleased", "I am so pleased with you", "you are so beautiful", "well done", "I always have time just for you", "my beloved daughter". I'd half expected to hear, "I love you but you're (insert sin) and you shouldn't" or "You're good, but spend more time in the Word and then we'll really talk". All those times I've stood squeezing my own finger into my own book, the Lord has truly looked at me lovingly, shaking his head and smiling a bit at how cute I am. He sees us as he created us, wholly completely and perfectly.
In my first prayer session with this team the Lord had a message for me about my identity. He told me that I was more than just a mother. He said that I am his daughter and that he made me a mother so that I'd more fully understand his love for me. I've always known that my identity is in Him. I am a daughter of the King. I've always known this, but at some point began listening to the lies that were spoken over me and traded in my identity as princess for a myriad of different identities that while fun, were never quite as perfect as the one Christ has given me. So now, I've once again stepped into my identity in Christ, this time with humbling awe at the perfect and complete love in which he enfolds me, and this time as a mother. Maybe that is why the name "mommy blog" grosses me out, I still squirm thinking about it. I really think that if everyone, even Christians, fully understood how perfect and whole the love that the Lord has for us is, they wouldn't search elsewhere for completion. Abide in that love, swim in it, soak it up, let every cell in your body feel loved because it is, completely.