Abba Father - Daddy

My Dear Friends,

One of the most important truths I have learned is that God loves and cares about me. I matter to Him and I am just at important to Him as anyone else on the planet. He always has time for me and wants to hear what I have to say. He really does love me.

In my early life, I misunderstood God. I thought, God saved me, but I still had to live the "Christian" life. It was exhausting - being in church all the time, going to bible study after bible study. I had to make sure I believed all the right stuff. I had to be careful of my conduct. Life was very rigid.

I remember a song from Sunday School that said, "be careful little eyes what you see..., little hands what you do..., little feet where you go..., there’s a Father up above and He’s looking down in love...." I have always loved to sing, so music tends to have a strong impact on me.

But looking back now as an adult, all I hear in that song is guilt. Be careful because God is watching. I grew up thinking that the burden was on me. God had condescended to save me but I had to be good. Somewhere I got the idea that God was distant. I thought I was accepted because I was part of the right group. I didn’t think I was special to God or that He cared about me specifically.

Thankfully, God began to break through this thinking in my late teens. There was an incident in my Senior year of High School that showed plainly God was paying attention to me.

I love to sew and in High School I made a lot of my own clothes. This particular time I was working on a skirt that consisted of many panels. I very carefully laid out and pinned the pattern pieces and cut the fabric. I followed the directions step by step, stitching each panel into place. Everything was going along fine until..... disaster! Well, at 17 it was a disaster. I was missing a panel.

I looked through my pattern pieces and realized that I hadn’t cut out one of the panels. My first reaction was to worry. How could I finish the skirt? There was only a little fabric left. Like I said, it was a disaster.

At this point, for some reason, I decided to pray. Maybe my mother suggested it; I don’t really remember. But I prayed, "Lord, please help my with this skirt."

I don’t know if this all happened on the same day, but I looked at the fabric again. I laid the pattern piece on it and the pattern piece was too wide. But as I looked at it an idea came to me. If I folded the pattern piece lengthwise, it would fit on the fabric.

I pinned, cut and stitched the missing panel into place. The skirt was complete and looked beautiful. And then the second miracle occurred. I tried the skirt on and it fit perfectly. Slowly it dawned on me that if I’d had enough fabric for the missing panel to be full size, the skirt would have been too big.

I remember that being the start of the change in my thinking. Maybe God does care about the little things in my life. The things that aren’t considered spiritual. He had helped me with my sewing. That wasn’t spiritual, I wasn’t sewing for a missionary. But He had still helped me.

A tiny thought took root and began to grow. Maybe God did care about me specifically. That thought brought more thoughts. Maybe God isn’t distant. Maybe He really is with me. Maybe I had been wrong in my assumptions.

I was still hesitant about changing my whole belief system. But thankfully God was, and still is, very patient with my thought process. He has brought me through many changes that help me see Him more clearly. God cares so much about me He put me in the place where I would get what I need.

Psalm 37:23 says, "The steps of the Godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives."

I can say with confidence, God really does love you specifically and He cares about the little things in your life. You are so precious to Him.

Thanks for listening,

Sarah