Chapter3: "Crazy Love"
>> Monday, April 5, 2010
What did you think about the way Chan describes God's love for us in this chapter? Can you, or could you ever relate to what he wrote between how our relationships with our earthly father impacts the way we view our relationships with our heavenly Father? If so, has that changed and do you remember what brought about that change? Did it seem to be a barrier or did it lay the foundation for a stronger early relationship with the Father---or maybe a little of both in different areas? How did this chapter speak to you directly? What other areas of Chan's writting popped out at you?
7 comments:
I really think that the magnitude of His unfailing love for us is very similar to the fact that God has always been subject. It is just something that you can't quite fully understand. It is so much bigger, stronger and absolute that we can't quite wrap our heads completely around it.
I could easily relate to what Chan said about his relathionship with God mirroring his relationship with his earthly father in his earlier years. My story is very different from his, but there are many positive and some negative attributes to my relationship with my dad that mirrors how I viewed my relationship with our heavenly Father. It really took another woman's testimony on the same subject to fully open my eyes and allow me to see and better understand those parallels. Our frame of reference is narrowed to our experiences. As I have grown in my walk with Father, my eyes have been opened to what Father desires from me and with me....and I am amazed at His unfailing love for me.
As a child, well even as a teenager I was always afraid to admit to my dad that I had done something wrong. Whether it was something like breaking his favorite coffee mug or wrecking the car that he so loving paid for me to drive each month. Was my dad gonna beat me, lock me in my room until I was an old lady? No but I am sure he felt like it at times but he never reacted like that. To look back on it now, I can truly say that I had/have an awesome dad. My fear of admitting my trangression to my earthly father totally correlates to how I feel when I have to admit my trangressions to my heavenly father and that word is "disappointment". I hate, hate, hate disappointing my child, my husband, but most of all God. As Chan was explaining Jeremiah chapter 1, "God knew me, before He made me", my heart was renewed with God's unconditional love for me. He knows that I am going to disappoint Him and He has known this before I even took my first breath but He still reaches out His arms of love and mercy for me every single day. How can I not love someone like that. I do not deserve it and it seems crazy that someone would continue to love me despite my bazillion different faults and failures. My desire is to accept this love and allow it to flow through me so that the world can experience the true love of the Father.
Beautifully put, Emily!
My dad was a great dad. I can't ever remember a time when he wasn't there for me or encouraging me. I had bad dreams a lot when I was little and even into middle school and I clearly remember my dad patiently coming to me as I was laying in my bed screaming. He would calm me down and stay with me until I fell back asleep. Having a child now that has some bad dreams, I have a greater appreiciation for how much patience it took for my dad to come to my room night after night sacrificing his sleep for me. I've always felt safe when my dad was around and I've never wondered about his love for me.
I wish I could say the same for my early feeling about my heavenly Father. As I learn more and grow more in Him, I can't believe how long I let fear rule my life. If my earthy daddy could be so patient and make me feel so safe, then my heavenly Daddy could do even more! It has taken me a long time to give my fears to Him and realize that I have nothing to fear. My relationship with my heavenly Father is so much deeper now that I feel safe in His arms. I know that nothing can snatch me from His hands!
My understanding of His love for me has also grown since having kids. I love what Chan wrote on pg. 55. "My own love and desire for my kid's love is so strong that it opened my eyes to how much God desires and loves us." When I think about how much I love my kids and how much joy their love brings me, I am overwhelmed. How much more must God love me?
One last thing that stood out to me was on pg. 61. Chan said that "Jesus doesn't have to love me. He doesn't need me. Yet He wants us, chooses us, even considers us His inheritance." That's pretty powerful. God wants me. I'm His inheritance. Thank you Jesus for wanting me!
Just wanted to let you ladies know that I am getting so much out this book and your comments. Thank you for your honesty and words. I'm being blessed, challenged, and encouraged. You ladies are awesome!
I'm honestly not sure if my relationship with my dad had an impact on my relationship with God. Dad and I weren't especially close. I knew he loved me and I loved him, but for the most part in our relationship I tried to please him, not because I was seeking approval, but because I didn't want to put him in a foul mood. He was never violent, but my dad's bad moods were BAD and they could last for days. I did everything I could to prevent him becoming unhappy, and at times that was exhausting. He wasn't religious and he never talked to me about God, faith, or religion. In fact we never had many meaningful conversations...we would usually stick to "safe" topics...baseball, computers, the latest electronics, family, a tv show we were watching; no topic that might be uncomfortable or cause a disagreement.
My sisters took me to church when I was little and in Sunday school I was taught about a God that loves us, a God who was steady, and slow to anger. My relationship with God felt safe and comforting...I found refuge in it. Maybe it was partly the strained relationship with my earthly father that made me long for the comfort I found in my relationship with my heavenly father.
Please understand, I am by no means trying to make it seem like my dad wasn't a good man, he was a good man with a big heart. I had so much respect for him. A few months before he passed away, he had opened a Facebook account. Exactly a month before he died, I had posted a status update asking my friends to pray for my little boy, because he was having some health problems. Dad left me a comment that said, "Keep you Faith". That was the only time in my life that my Dad ever said anything to me about Faith. Since then, anytime I feel my faith begin to waiver, I remember that and I draw strength from it. So YES, I think my Dad did impact my relationship with the Lord.
The part of this chapter that spoke most to me was when Chan was sharing his realization that God longs for us. I've always understood that God loved me (just like I understood that my dad loved me) but I've never considered that he doesn't just love me, but he longs for and desires a personal relationship with me. I, like Chan, have always thought of the relationship being more about my longings and my desires, and it felt pompous to imagine God desiring me. It is a good realization that he does in fact long for and desire me! And you too!
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