daddy issues/Pray First‍

Why God's love is different than the love you are familiar with.‍

Psalm 86:15;1 John 3:1‍

Have you ever noticed the way God loves you is different than the way people love you? Maybe you have asked yourself, “How is God’s love different than the love I am familiar with?” The answer is simple. He is love. We are called to be a reflection of his love, but unfortunately as broken individuals, we can never fully amount to that.

I was brought up in a mixed family; My parents were divorced when I was 7, they both found other partners, and eventually started up new families. My dad is currently on to his third family.

Needless to say, my picture of love was very conditional. The love I saw and felt was often fleeting. It seemed that no matter how much i tried i couldn't get a hold of it and keep it.

From the age of 7 up till my 20s, I believed that love was something only found in fairy tales. It was extremely difficult to feel loved by the people who were supposed to love me most. My dad made it clear that he loved his new wife more than me, and my mom being broken by all that had happened, placed her emotional wellbeing on me.

I am currently 34 years old, married 10 years and blessed with 4 kids. God has not only shown, but proven to me that man’s love may be conditional, but His love is unconditional. By trusting in Him, and knowing He is enough, His love was able to manifest into all areas of my life. His love is what keeps me going; what sustains me, even when I felt nobody cared about me.

Psalm 86:15 NIV But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

Our Father in heaven is so gracious. He wants to hold and comfort us. He is not like the people we so desperately want to receive love from. His love is boundless.

1 John 3:1 NIV See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Until we truly know the Father, we cannot know His love. However, even if we do not know Him, He is still loving us. When I was 6 years old, and my parents would fight after a drunken night, I asked for comfort and safety in a whisper. What I now realize is that even then I was praying, crying out to God and feeling the presence of Spirit fill me with comfort.

The enemy wants us to believe that we are unlovable; undeserving of love. He does this in order to keep us distracted, and away from knowing the fullness of who God is.

However, when we allow ourselves to take a step back, and acknowledge all that He has done for us, our hearts become aligned with who He truly is; feeling the unexplainable love of a faithful Father. God is true love, peace, and joy. ‍

John 14:27 NLT “And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid.”

When we place our expectations of love on others, we will always be let down. Finding the love we all desire requires our attention to be fixed towards Jesus. The love we crave can only be found from the one who created it.

Take time today to write down the love you desire. Ask yourself if the love you are familiar with meets those expectations? Turn to God today, allow him to fill the missing space that rightfully belongs to Him.