May 20, 2014
“Overlook my youthful sins, O Lord! Look at me instead through eyes of mercy and forgiveness, through eyes of everlasting love and kindness.” Psalm 25:6, 7 (TLB)
The Father’s Heart…When Mercy Calls
There is no greater love than the love of our Mighty God…And our loving God modeled His excellent parenting skills with His first children, Adam and Eve, and certainly with all of us. Even though the first children of His creation were loved and cared for, as only their adoring Father could, providing the most beautiful garden…and the most personal relationship with the Him, the Creator…they chose to do what I am tempted to do every day…and what mankind often does, and what I often choose to do…to rebel…to choose to purposely disobey…Sometimes blatant disobedience, and sometimes subliminal…but choosing to defy the authority…And, yes, the consequences are costly, always…
Those first children became aware of their shortcoming when they allowed the voice of the deceiver to distract them from the Truth of God’s specific instructions…and they waivered and they acted…then, in shame, they hid from their Creator. God, was not surprised, or shocked, or unprepared…for He had fore-knowledge of what His children would do…and He did not disown… or reject, or abandon, or renounce them…Yes, there were consequences, but because of His everlasting love…He made provision for their shortcomings, for their sin, for their disobedience, for their mistakes, for their weaknesses, for their frailty…for their vulnerability…For He alone, possessed the Sovereign knowledge that His children needed a Redeemer, a Defender, a Protector, an Advocate, a Counselor, a Savior…And He held within His heart the God Love…the Agape Love…the Genuine Love…the Unconditional Love…the Perfect Love, for His children…He is Love.
And as we have precious ones of our own…we too, desire to model our hearts after the Creator God…we too recognize that our children will also have those same needs…Our children will fall short as the first children did, as we, their parents do. And our Love becomes the unconditional love, the protecting love, the defending love, the counseling love, the redeeming love…imperfect as our love is, we love with the desire to be the God- ordained covering in their precious lives…
We know in advance that they will have successes and they will have failures…but as our loving God had foreknowledge and a plan and a purpose for each of His children, we, as parents, by God’s grace, can attempt to model His amazing design in our parenting applications, and when we fail…as we will do, we are thankful for…
The Father’s Heart…When Mercy Calls
Mercy… “Our God is the Father of Mercies and the Lord of all comfort…”
2 Corinthians 1:3
Compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one’s power; compassionate treatment of those in distress…
I remember a day when Mercy called…
And I trust that you can remember Mercy moments in your life…I had to re-evaluate my memories over a period of time because I had the tendency to remember the times when I failed and when I disappointed my parents…For many years I pondered over these events, unable to process them through the eyes of a loving parent…I could only see them through the eyes of the perpetrator…the rebellious child… I also experienced the same challenge as I sought a relationship with the Great Almighty God…I did not understand Him as the Perfect Loving parent…
I remember the day that I broke my father’s brand new fishing pole…and his first reaction was a BIG one of Extreme frustration…the tip just snapped off when I went to cast the make-believe line into the living room, right at the stone mantle…SNAP! Whew…I can remember that feeling…yes, it was an accident…but it was also some faulty judgment on my part…But, I also remember the “Mercy” moment when he came to apologize for his over-reaction saying, “Well, Angel, I think you saved me from losing the big one…he would have gotten away!” Funny, how a five-year-old remembers… And our children will remember. They certainly remember their parents’ short-comings…but they also remember when “Mercy” pays a visit…So do not be discouraged! I want them to know “Mercy”.
I remember the day that I told my father that I would not be going to Law School after all…It had been my plan for years. He and I had talked about it…we had planned…we had dreamed…but my heart’s desire changed as a young adult and my dream was to study for my Master’s degree in Communication and to have a family. I realized that I did not want to devote my life to the law profession… I realized that I had to make a choice. And I chose… Things did not go well the day that I broke the news to my father…I felt like a huge disappointment to him. And, the truth was that I did disappoint him. And, at that stage of my life, the decision was mine to make…it was my life. But, I did not understand that “Mercy” paid a visit over a period of time and that my father’s love for me was unconditional…it took time…The problem was in my perspective…
But, I learned valuable lessons that day…and through that experience. I learned how I wanted to respond to my own children when they came to me …
The Father’s Heart…When Mercy Calls
I also remember days when our own children pulled some good ones…I remember when I fell short…
“Mercy” called the day that Christie, in a VERY frustrated state-of-mind, totally lost control of her eight-year-old self! And, I, the adult, lost control of my responses to my eight-year-old daughter… We had been looking at ranch properties for months…and months…Adam loved driving around in the country and Christie came to despise it…After school, after dance, after soccer practice, it seemed to her as all we did was drive around and look at trees! One day, Adam and I picked her up from dance, and I had gotten her a large Mountain Dew…maybe a lemonade…(as a peace offering) and she casually asked what we were going to do…and I announced that we were going to meet Bill, and we were going to look at some property…(It was her day to sit in the front-seat…odd days were Adam’s and even days were Christie’s because of the dates of their birthdays…) She glared at me…and began to throw a fit, a temper tantrum, or whatever an eight year-old does…she went on and on and on…and I reached my breaking point and lost control and screamed “Shut –up”…We all were shocked by my out-burst since that was a term completely banned in our home; and in what seemed to be s-l-o-w motion, that precious little blonde haired, blue-eyed child picked up her drink and hurled it right at me…
WOW!!!! I just remember sitting there stunned…Probably speechless for one of the first times. And Adam, from the back seat announced, “Chris, boy are you in BIG trouble now!” I think that Christie was extremely aware of the jeopardy in which she had placed herself.
I can remember an inexplicable “calm” coming over me…Now, as I look back on this experience…I am so thankful that I just sat there, totally aware of what just happened, not believing that I had responded so rudely to my daughter, and not believing that she had reacted in that way. I remember stopping…I remember sitting…
Christie was crying immediately and sobbing her apology…” Mercy” paid an unexpected visit…I was able at that moment to hear the protests from the past week and the frustrations of our little daughter who just wanted to get out of the car and play…with her dolls…with her stuff…with her friends…she wanted to have her “alone” time and read…and Bill and I had been pushing, pushing, pushing…and I had “had it” with her relentless whining and crying and carrying on…and she had “had it’ with the driving and the looking…both of us reaching our absolute capacities…but also realizing that while I had totally mishandled her frustration and her emotions and had provoked her, she had, also mishandled them. Her panic-stricken realization of her drastic mistake was apparent in her immediate and dramatic response. After she calmed down, as I just sat…sat…sat…Silence filled our car…none of us, including me, knew what would happen next. We had some calm, self-controlled conversation about what had just occurred…I apologized for my very inappropriate and rude response to her. We discussed the fact that she was frustrated…VERY frustrated, but that her response to her frustration was extremely inappropriate! Yes…there would be consequences…helping to clean the car…was one of the details, and I’m sure that there was something else although, I do not remember, nor does she. What we all remember is that we still went to look at the property that evening…one child having a lemonade…and one child doing without…and a mom, who was a bit sticky and very repentant…but I will say that “Mercy” paid an unexpected visit that day…surprising all of us!
Since, then we have laughed, and laughed, and laughed at the cost of finding the ranch! I can say that we all would agree that the search was worth it in so many ways. I also know that by God’s Grace and divine intervention that day, I was able to learn to model a calm, and mature response to my child after making a drastic mistake…Whew…I confess that it very easily could have had a different outcome if “Mercy” had not shown up…and God is like that. He sees to the details, even when we mess things up…and I am thankful!
And, our search for the perfect property ended that evening as we found what would be our home for over twenty years, The Ace High Ranch. How could we ever forget such a dramatic event?
I am so thankful for “Mercy”…who shows up at just the right times…
I remember a day when “Mercy” called…
And I trust that you can remember “Mercy” moments in your life. They have been there…sometimes we just don’t see…
The Father’s Heart…When Mercy Calls
It is true that our earthly parents fall short…I am the very first to admit this. I have had to apologize to my children more times than I care to remember…and yet, my failures as a human, as a parent, can be utilized to teach my children. And their failures and shortcomings should be used to teach me some valuable lessons about that unconditional love which our God Almighty has for each one of us…which He had for His first two children. The Creator, the Almighty, Sovereign God, did not abandon, or reject, or disown Adam and Eve…nor does He reject me in my shortcomings…nor do I reject my children when they miss the mark…nor did my parents disown me…Our wonderful companion “Mercy” visits at just the right time because of God’s unconditional and divine Love…because of His Son, Jesus Christ, the provision for each one of us…Because of Him, “Mercy” calls…
Our dear companion “Mercy” is not dependent on any person…no matter how we respond to a situation…No matter how our children respond…no matter how our parents respond…our Loving God sends “Mercy”…when we cleave to Him…when we Love Him, when we choose to receive Him in His Abundance and in His Grace. He sends “Mercy”…not based on our performance, certainly in spite of us, but on our desire and willingness to be in relationship with Him… “Mercy” visits as an unwarranted gift…an unjustifiable gift…an unearned gift because of who our Sovereign God is! “Mercy” visits because of His unconditional Love…We, daughters of the Living God, have access to this beautiful Truth…”Mercy”…
Do we open our hearts and our lives to this companion…to this gift of “Mercy”?
The Father’s Heart…When Mercy Calls
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” John 10:10 (NASB)
“…For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.” Revelation 12:10 (NIV)
I recently read that, “The human heart was created with a longing for the assurance that we are enjoyed by the Father. The Father enjoys us during our journey…” (Mike Bickle, 2006)
I have thought about these words…and I believe that it is true…And mankind longs to be loved, appreciated, enjoyed by earthly fathers, by earthly parent, as well. It is an insatiable longing in the human spirit to feel love, to feel compassion, to feel valued and enjoyed…And when earthly parents cannot or will not or do not display and fulfill this longing in a child’s heart…there is a vacuum…
But, there is a greater need, an eternal need and longing and hunger and thirst for the Love of the Heavenly, Eternal Father…who Loves with an Unconditional and Perfect, Agape Love…and He delights in and enjoys His children, in their imperfections…when they fall short…and He has made a provision, in His fore-knowledge…because He Loved and wanted to make a Way for His children.
The enemy, the accuser attempts to steal away this relationship and discourage and destroy the joy and the abundance that God has for His own…The accuser attempts to destroy and to kill the gift and the experience of love and of compassion when “Mercy” visits and when “Mercy” comes to cover the situation and the circumstance of life…That is why He is the enemy…
The Father’s Heart…When Mercy Calls
While cleaning out years of boxed mementos, children’s school work, souvenirs, photos, etc., I came upon a box of greeting cards which I had saved. I took a little time to inspect a few of the cards and made a game of guessing the giver of the card by indentifying the handwriting on the envelope. I recognized the handwriting of my father…who has been with the Lord for twenty-four years. His penmanship was still recognizable to me as I examined a card which looked to be completely sealed…
I sat and held the card for a few moments and thought how my memories seemed to focus on the disappointments that I had caused in my parents’ lives. I remembered mishaps in my child-hood years…mistakes and disobedience… I thought about my choices in early years of adult-hood…I remembered decisions which I made… I also thought about how they had been hurtful and disappointing to them…
And then, I thought about my own children…they had never done anything to change my love for them…they could not ever do anything to change that love which I had for them…It did not matter that Adam had accidentally set our back-yard on fire with a sparkler…or that Christie had thrown her drink on me (after my outburst)…or that Adam, went out in the truck on the ranch without permission when he was fourteen, and had gotten it stuck in the rainy ditch…Or that he had a different set of education goals than I did, I would always be their advocate…I would always be their momma…that is what a parent does…and I truly believe that they know that…I hope and pray that they know that…
I slowly unsealed the envelope…I do not think that the card had ever been opened…and I pulled out a birthday card, signed in my father’s hand-writing,
“Happy birthday, Angel, You will never know how proud we are of the loving mother you are…and of the woman you have become…”
Love,
Mother and Daddy
The Father’s Heart…When Mercy Calls
On that day, as I sat reading this card, “Mercy” visited me…I had overlooked these words in the past…I had allowed the lie of the enemy, the accuser to rob me of the gift of grace and mercy which my father had for me…He was not reflecting on the past, but rather on the journey of life…as we become…as I was becoming. A father’s heart of grace, of mercy…He was not remembering the things which I had done to disobey, or to disappoint…He was seeing and focusing on what and who I was becoming on this journey of life…And I realized that he had truly enjoyed me, as his daughter. Just as I absolutely enjoy my children…just as you enjoy yours…no matter what…Yes, we hurt for them when circumstances are difficult…but we always value and find pleasure in the gift of their lives.
What a model of the Father Heart of our Loving God…
I learned a great deal on that day. My father did delight in me…He always did…I just did not understand his heart and I allowed the enemy to steal away the joy…I permitted the enemy to be the accuser in my life.
And, just as I certainly love and adore my children and would absolutely never disown them, abandon them, reject them…never, I know, I believe and I trust that Our Loving and Adoring God does not reject His children, even when they, we, fall short and miss the mark. Because of His Love, He made a provision before this time which we know, to ransom and to redeem His children…because of His perfect Agape Love…He delights in His…He enjoys His…He seeks relationship with His…and He sends “Mercy”, compassion, comfort to call…
I know of several friends who have not been able to answer “Mercy’s” call…they have not been able to receive the forgiveness…the grace…and the call of “Mercy” and comfort…because the accuser has stolen joy and abundance from their lives. I pray that today…they would receive their companion “Mercy” and would understand that God enjoys them, even in the process…in the journey…no matter what their parents did or did not do…no matter what they have done in the past…
I pray that we, as parents, would communicate to our children the truth that we all fall short and miss the mark…but, we, as parents love them unconditionally, in the process, on the journey…that we delight in them…that we enjoy them!
And when we do fail them as their parents, and we will at times…their Heavenly Father will never fail them…He will never fall short…He will never miss the mark…He will continue forever to send “Mercy”…He will continue to run after His children…He will never leave or forsake…for His “Mercy” is new every morning…Great Is His Faithfulness!
“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.” Lamentations 3:22, 23
Praying that you each find “Mercy”, and comfort, and compassion as you begin this day…and always…It is there…sometimes, we just don’t see it.
Love and Abundant Joy,
