Because I Exist

Last week was my last week of MOPS for the year. The speaker's name was Jill Talents and she said something that I don't think I will ever forget. She summed up exactly how I have felt, but put it into better words than I could of. She painted a beautiful picture of God's love for us.

She described the love a parent feels for their newborn baby. You are handed that baby that you have dreamed about and waited for and you are immediately in love. I can't even describe that feeling of love. But I know that Tyler didn't do anything to earn it. He didn't work for it, he didn't perform for it, he didn't try to meet any expectations. He wasn't even dressed yet. I loved him indescribable amounts just because he existed and because he was mine.

Jill talked about those things, how all our babies had to do was exist and she compared that to God's love. Amazing. I think every Christian struggles at some point with feeling inadequate. With feeling like we're not good enough or deserving of God' love. And the truth is, we're not. We sin continually. But God loves us not for what we've done to earn it, but because we exist and because we are His.

There is nothing that Tyler could do that would cause me to stop loving him. He is and always will be my baby, my son. He doesn't always listen to me, in fact he seems to find a thrill in sneaking into places he knows he's not supposed to be. But it doesn't matter. I love him anyway. And throughout his life, he will make mistakes, he will disobey me and he will probably even frustrate me. But I will never stop loving him. I will only love him more each day.

I continually fall short, but God loves me anyway. With an unconditional love that is more than I can even imagine. And no matter what I do, no matter how many mistakes I make, He will continue to love me because I am his daughter.

Isn't that comforting? I've always heard God's love for me compared to the love of a Father for his child. And thankfully I have an amazing dad, so I always thought I understood what that meant. I knew how much my dad loves me. But now that I have a child of my own and I have experienced that love for him myself, I understand it so much more. I still probably can't begin to understand the depths of God's love, but I think this paints a pretty amazing picture and gives us just a glimpse into his heart.