As we continue this year the next plan I have selected to go through is “Rad Dad!” which is a 6 day devotional through the Bible.com site.
Day 4 – How has becoming a father changed your perspective on a Father’s love for his children?
Today’s devotional is connected with Proverbs 3:5-6.
‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. ‘
Proverbs 3:5-6
As I consider this and how my 2022 has begun, I have picked up the theme from our church sermon series and am holding onto 2022 being a year to THRIVE rather than like the past couple of years of just trying to survive. To thrive we need to change or have changed from how things were, how we were. I originally thought that meant the known changes taking place in my family as being the dad of 2 girls who will be leaving the house this year as one goes off to navy boot camp and the other to college to play collegiate soccer. As the first week of the year took place I was struck by more change in my corporate life too and at first, started to figure out what this meant and thanks to a REVIVE week which is what our church titled our week of prayer and fasting, I was able to exchange any concerns, worries, or anxieties by casting them on God because He cares for me and grabbing hold of the reality that if I want 2022 to be about a year of thriving, I need to take hold of the changes and pursue God’s plans and purposes for how they will help me to thrive. God’s plans are for good and not for evil! God’s plans are to give us hope and a future. So for that reason, I couldn’t be leaning on my own understanding because I don’t have or know the full picture that God is operating in. For that reason, I needed to trust in the Lord with all my heart. And so as we arrive at today’s devotional it is quite timely not only from a personal perspective but also from the perspective of being the dad of two adult girls who is stepping out into the world this year. By trusting in God rather than trying to lean on my own understanding of what is taking place, my faith, my hope, and my trust are that by submitting to God in all my ways, He will make my path straight!
Being the dad I need to be and we need to be for our kids, our wives, and our world means trusting in and submitting to God in all our ways! Are you ready to thrive by leaning in on God? Are you ready to thrive by trusting fully in God? Are you ready to thrive by submitting to God in all your ways? Let’s decide today to make 2022 a year to thrive as the dads God created us to be!
Today’s devotional has been provided by Varsity Skateboarding Organization (more details can be found here: https://varsityskate.org/).
Reading through today’s devotional, here are some takeaways for me: (check out the devotional on your own too to see if you pick up other nuggets, and please share your findings in the comments)
- So did your perspective change when you had a child?
- Did your perspective on God change when you had a child?
- When they start saying your name or crying out to you do you notice the impact and feeling it has and creates?
- Did it impact your thoughts of “Abba Father”? “Abba daddy”?
- Did that bit flip in your head? The feeling that you would do anything, even die for your child?
- Would you take a bullet for your child?
- Imagine how much God loves us that He gave His one and only Son to die for us, even to the point of the excruciating death on a cross.
- Before kids we don’t really get what sacrificial love is.
- After kids it opens our eyes to just how much God loves us that He would do that for us.
