Jesus Loves Me

I remember it well. My 3 year old foster daughter was sitting on my lap at the dining room table and she looked up at the Maxine Pendry painting of Jesus that hung on the wall. She had been with us for about a month and prior to that had likely never seen a likeness of Jesus nor heard that he was the Son of God. To her, "Jesus" was simply a word that your Mother screams when you irritate her. But she had been hearing the songs about Him and the stories that we would read at bedtime and as she stared at the picture she finally said, “Who is that?” and I answered that it is a picture of Jesus. I remember the look on the face of this precious little girl that had been through things that you never ever want to hear, as she confidently said, “He loves me.” No question. Just assurance. “He loves me.”

So many times when the chips are down we have a little pity party and assume that God has turned his back on us or is somehow punishing us by allowing us to encounter the tough times. Why can’t we be more like little Amber (not her real name) and know that we are loved, regardless of the circumstances that come our way?  Why is it that we automatically assume that the God who alone is GOOD is responsible for what we consider BAD? 

The way you react and respond to the tough things in life will NOT go unnoticed by your kids. As grown-ups we need to understand that we live in a broken, fallen world that was not a part of God’s plan but the result of Satan and his influence on humankind. We need to have locked in as our default response to sickness, sin, evil, disputes, quarrels, death, disease….  that none of those things were created by God. He created us to live in paradise… The Garden of Eden was made by Him for us. So why would we believe for one minute that bad things are happening to us because God has forgotten, betrayed, or stopped loving us?

Are you getting that? Do you understand that God is a good and faithful God who never wanted us to live in a fallen world? You need to have that locked in so that as your kids encounter the difficult experiences you are ready to tell them that God is with them and will see them through it, one way or another. When tough times come, let them hear you thanking God for being with you in the storm. Don’t live in a pity party when life is rough. Live in the hope that comes from knowing a good and beautiful God. Teach them that He is faithful, because bad things will come their way and they need to know beforehand that His love will enfold them in the storm.

I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.

So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD."

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.

I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;

it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.