God’s affirmation doesn’t condone our sin, and it doesn’t acquiesce in our mediocrity. He calls us to repentance and holiness and discipleship. But he begins with a simple, unconditional affirmation: I love you. You are my daughter. You are my son. With you I am well pleased. When we embrace that affirmation, we make a good start. We don’t start falteringly, hesitantly, guiltily, waiting for rejection, or wondering when we will get cut from the squad. We start on the right foot, embraced and embracing the God who loves us and has an eternal salvation for us.
Child of God
Katherine Walden
The moment you begin to blindly beg and plead with God to move on your behalf is the moment for you to take a step back and ask yourself the following questions. Do you believe God is a good God and your Heavenly Father? Are you praying out of a place of fear that perhaps he isn’t listening or that he won’t answer you unless you prove to him how desperate you are? Calm your heart, remind yourself of the truth, and pray from a place of trust that God cares about your situation far more than you do. Pray with the sure knowledge that you are a child of God and that he knows your voice, and hears your weakest whisper.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God’s eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity and held safe in an everlasting embrace… We must dare to opt consciously for our chosenness and not allow our emotions, feelings, or passions to seduce us into self-rejection.