Devotionals for the Heart: God's Love

God’s love is stronger than even a mother’s love
A devotional Jessica Brodie

It’s a five-by-five booklet of vanilla construction paper, folded and stapled just so, and it’s one of the most precious things I possess.

Titled “About Mom,” my now-preteen son, Cameron, crafted it for me when he was about six, probably for Mother’s Day. The booklet consists of eighteen pages, each with a single sentence on each page written in pencil in what was his very best handwriting:

Thank you for everything.

You are so nice and sweet.

I love you so much.

I will behave every day.

You mean a lot to me.

I love your eyes and your heart.

I will never be mean to you ever again.

You are not mean.

You are sweet and pretty.

I will not give you a mean look.

I love red because you love it.

You do not do anything wrong.

If I were you, I would be bad.

I would protect you.

I would give them a punch, a kick butt.

I hope you’re safe.

That’s why you should stay out of danger.

Cameron is my oldest, the boy who made me a mom in the first place, and his sensitive and fierce soul is reflected in each of those pages—his valiant small-boy pledge to protect me from danger, his promise to behave, his insistence that he’ll never be mean to me or give me a mean look, his flattery, his sweet words. I look at him now, feet taller and almost thirteen, and can still hear those words pour from his lips, still know he meant them with every ounce of his being.

We’re close now, Cameron and I, but I know things are changing in his world. He’s in seventh grade now, and soon he’ll be in high school, then college. He’ll meet the woman of his dreams and start a family. I hope and pray we’ll be just as close as the years pass, hope I’ll be able to love and know his wife and his children, hope I’ll see him grow old, become even more wise and mature and kind. I have so many dreams for this child, now and far into the future.

Is that what God thinks when He looks at us, I wonder? He hears our prayers in the lonely night or the stillness of dawn, heartfelt and pleading, and knows we mean them completely. He hopes we’ll stay close to Him, hopes we’ll remember Him, though He understands—even if He doesn’t much like it—when the distractions of life pull us here and there and far from Him. Still, He is there, His love unchanging and unfailing, heart soaring when we return.

That love is sometimes unbelievable to us. We feel guilt about our sins, guilt that we turned from our Lord. We fear He will reject or forget us.

Never, God tells us through His prophet, Isaiah: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me” (Isaiah 49:15-16 NIV).

God loves us even more than a mother loves her children. His love is more than words, more than a life stage, more than a promise. It’s a covenant, a seal, a truth we can count on for always. He loves us so much He even “gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

As consuming and powerful as they are to me, the dreams I have for my sweet son can’t hold a candle to the dreams God has for us, His children. Those dreams include eternal life! Life forever, with Him! We are blessed beyond measure.

Today, I hope you love the people in your world—whether children, spouse, family, or friends—with all your heart…and remember that however strong that love is, God’s love for us is ever stronger. Forever.

~*~
Author Bio:

Jessica Brodie is a Christian author, journalist, editor, blogger, and writing coach. 

She is also the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism.

Learn more about her fiction and read her blog at http://jessicabrodie.com/shiningthelight.