Wow, how do I put into words what just happened this morning…
This morning, I began reflecting a little bit on the usual things, the things that have been on all of our hearts lately…
As I began to write in my journal this morning, it went something like this…
“Good Morning, Holy Spirit. ?I’m excited about what You’re doing in the earth. Times may be hard, they may feel uncertain, they may seem out of control, and things may be outright scary for many—many are even facing devastation. But I feel that we are being carried, we are being delivered, You are taking us somewhere, and You are leading us out of this and into something new. Thank You, Father.”
And then I began hearing Him speak, and it was from this place that felt like— well I would describe it as something that comes from “a Father’s heart”…
As I wrote down what I felt I was hearing Him speak to me, I turned my heart to the Father and I got chills as I began to hear Him speak more to my heart.
As I heard what I was hearing, there was this sense of “tenderness” —I felt it. Not just a tenderness towards me, but a “Fatherly tenderness” that seemed to be radiating from His heart, for the whole world (John 3:16).
Side Note: “tenderness” is defined as,
“gentleness and kindness”
“feelings of deep affection, devotion”
“sensitivity to pain”
As our Heavenly Father, as our Creator, He loves and cherishes and feels tender towards His creation.
“The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.” —Jeremiah 31:3
He feels our pain, He understands it. Jesus suffered every imaginable thing when He went to the cross for us.
I know that in this time, many feel that, in a sense, “God has turned His back on us” but this morning I felt such a drastic “opposite” to that in my own heart coming from His…
He still has a Father’s heart toward us, a heart that is tender and a heart that loves with an “everlasting love”—a heart of lovingkindness… a heart that so desires that we turn our hearts back toward His.
He desires to get our attention as a Father. He desires for us to wake up and turn our hearts toward His, to see His goodness. He so desires to show us His glory, and His power, and His might, and His beautiful majesty!
He desires to show us His salvation…
Sometimes a Father must allow His children to go through hard things —out of love for them.
Right now, He is making a way for us in the “wilderness” and even though some of us may not be able to feel the “hope” that is truly there for us, it is there for us.
“For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.” —Isaiah 43:19
Everyone has been quoting Psalm 91, but look at the end of the passage in verses 15-16:
“He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”
Do you feel the tenderness in those verses? The protective, Fatherly response to the one who seeks His heart in the Secret Place?
He longs to show us His tenderness, but sometimes we have to go through certain things to realize that we must return, and turn our hearts toward Him. Certain things must happen for a hardened heart to become tender towards Him again. Sometimes there must be a journey.
But He’s making a way. He’s loving us with His tender, Fatherly heart. A heart that knows what’s best for His children, and a heart that will do what is needed to lead and teach His children in the way they should go.
That’s a tender, Fatherly heart. ?
Thank You, Father. Thank You for helping me to realize in such a real way, that this is not You turning Your heart “cold” towards us, but it’s out of the complete opposite place – it’s the result of Your tender, Fatherly heart, a heart that longs so much for His children to turn their hearts back to His.
And He’s helping us to get to that place. ?
-Heather ?