DAUGHTER

Do you have any idea how precious that word DAUGHTER is?! We hear it all the time...but do we really grasp what it means to be God's daughter? 

I go to a big church... Calvary Christian Center here in Sacramento, California. I have been there for about a year now and it is the first place I have ever heard the pastors referred to as "Mom & Dad", we've got Mama Goudeaux and Dad Goudeaux. I have referred to my previous pastors as my spiritual parents, so the concept was nothing new, I just never called them by those names. It can be easy to feel lost in the thousands of members and wonder if they REALLY know I am there, much less consider me a daughter. Last Sunday, a girlfriend came to church with me for the first time. I introduced her to my pastor after service and after chatting up with her a bit, my pastor asked her while nodding his head toward me, "You know this girl right here"? As she laughed and said yes, he placed his hand over mine while hugging me close to his side and said, "This is my daughter right here! Today meeting me, you are getting to meet her father." He proceeded to tell my girlfriend how broken I was when I first got to Calvary, and told her all God had done in the past year in my life...Then he told her how proud he is and what a blessing I am to him as his daughter.  

The man had ME crying! I mean, I knew he knows who I am... I knew he knows my face, etc... but to hear him tell my friend all he did about me, meant he really KNEW me... That evening during offering, he told me how much he can see all God has been doing in me...that I have been glowing, the difference was that noticeable. But what he was saying even more so was... You're my girl, I'm watching over you! 

How much greater does your Heavenly father love and watch over you!!! I know I was on Cloud 9 hearing all this from my spiritual dad. I feel truly loved and IDENTIFIED as belonging to him, in his care. But what it really did was give me an understanding of the IDENTITY I have as God's daughter! 

I love my earthly father, but we didn't have the greatest relationship for many years. I know my dad loves me and would do anything for me and my siblings, but he was a very hurting and hurtful man for a very long time. We went through years of many fights, hurtful words, and then not speaking to each other at all. I struggled with a lot of rejection, broken trust and emotional scars from my father. There were many Father's Days that I would just have my kids buy a grandpa card because he and I both knew I'd be lying in buying him a traditional card that went on and on about the kind of father he wasn't in so many ways. 

God has since healed that relationship completely with my dad, and I have such a love for him, and we truly have a great relationship today, and the glory completely belongs to Jesus! But the effects of that father/daughter relationship made it very difficult to receive God's love as my FATHER. It made it extremely difficult to recognize how precious I am as His daughter. I had no clue what it was like to be lifted up, treasured, respected and definitely didn't know how to not tolerate anything less! Your earthly daddy may have let you down, but your Heavenly Father has something to tell you!  

THIS is God's heart to you sweet sisters! You are the precious daughter that He tucks in at night... Zephaniah 3:17 in the Amplified version says you are the daughter He rejoices over with joy! He rests in silent satisfaction with YOU! In His love for YOU He is silent about your past sins, not even remembering them. It is YOU He even sings to sleep! 

Song of Solomon 2:4 says when YOU, His DAUGHTER, are near Him, His love waves as a protective comforting banner over your head....

In Isaiah 41:10 He is the Father whispering to you "You don't have to be afraid of ANYTHING baby girl, I'm not going anywhere." (my paraphrase) 

In Psalm 91:4 He is the Father whose big strong arms (wings) are waiting for you to run to when you are scared and need to be protected.  

One thing I can say about my dad is that despite whatever turbulence we may have been going through, if I needed him, he was right there. I will never EVER forget the day I left my ex-husband. My 7-month pregnant self had packed up my two babies and drove to my dad's house... He was standing in the driveway, and hadn't known I was coming. The moment I got out of the car, I ran to him and he instinctively pulled me into his arms as I cried my heart out. My dad isn't a small man anyway, but when I needed my Daddy, his arms were larger than life. 

THAT is what you have in the precious identity as God's daughter!!! You can do anything... because He has got you in His larger than life arms... He won't let you fall. He sees exactly where you are, and knows exactly what you need, and wants you to know that when He looks at you... He smiles and says "That's my girl"!!! 

Sleep sweet tonight sisters! 

Til next time...

~C