Daddy! Papa!

Thought I should post another blog, to get used to doing this on a regular basis!

I've been downloading lots of podcasts on itunes, and in particular those exploring God as Father. Louie Giglio has spoken on God as Perfect Father. He began by quoting A W Tozer, who asks,
"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."

I know that during my time in Gloucester my head thoughts and heart thoughts about God haven't always joined up. It's the constant conversation and praxis of working out who God is in light of the Bible, my experience, what others affirm and back to the Bible and back to my experience, and bring this all back to a glouriously loving, gracious God who understands when this gets tough and is patient with us!

So after listening to 4 talks on God as perfect Father I have been listening to Mark Stibbe speak on God and his extravagant love for us. He uses the Parable of the Lost Son...I feel correctly highlighting that the narrative is a picture of a gregarious Daddy, who cares little for social niceties and expectations. A picture of a Daddy who longs to restore, adorn, and heal. A picture of a proud Daddy who wants everyone to know that his child is back, HIS CHILD, not a servant, a failure, a disappointment, but HIS PRECIOUS CHILD. Stibbe highlights the continuous verb used in the Dad's greeting, not just a welcome kiss as might have been expected, like a handshake. No a kiss, then another, then another, pull back, pause, gaze in joy at the return of his beloved child, then another kiss, and another! It reminds me of Paul in Romans 8, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" THIS is our God!

I'm sure many see my time going to Australia as a bit of a jolly, an amazing opportunity to share God's love elsewhere, good networking opportunities, perhaps somewhere I'll find my next job...a time to have fun, get a suntan...er have you seen me?!!
But I'm beginning to understand the main reason I'm going. When times have been tough, in my journal I've recorded my cries out to God, and written, off the cuff, I'm going to leave it all and go to Australia. Where there is sun, they love sport, there is sun and hopefully guys who look like Simon Baker :)
I have seen my heart knowledge of God as Daddy eroded with years of lonliness, disappointment personally and through work, seen hopes and dreams fall to the ground, had my heart broken due to a range of circumstances. Through all this I've struggled to see God as my dad, felt he cared more for the ministry than Michelle...
So God has been calling me, healing me, blessing me, inviting me to experience and know again that He is my Daddy, as Mark Stibbe says, Papa. Not just holding me in his arms but letting me snuggle on His lap, be swung around, and restore the broken child. To be welcomed, given the robe and the ring as his daughter.
To be reminded in such an extravagant way that He loves Michelle before the ministry!