The Kindness of Our Father - Encouragement Café - January 20, 2017

The Kindness of our Father
By Andrea Pierce
Friday, January 20, 2017

If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Romans 12:8 NLT

God has blessed me tremendously throughout my life by giving me Godly parents.  Their kindness to me has always been incredible and it is what makes me even more eager to share that kindness with everyone around me.  I have also witnessed kindness countless times from my awesome church family.  My church is always ready and willing to show God’s kindness wherever there is a need. 

I’ve experienced it firsthand.  It was January of 2014 and I was going in for a posterior spinal fusion to correct my Scoliosis, which had progressed to 65 degrees by the time of surgery.  Everyone was aware of what a risk the surgery was going to be, but how desperately I needed it.  Little did I know that my ladies’ Sunday school class had put together a marvelous gift basket of things for me to use during my hospital stay.

They exemplified God’s kindness to me on that precious Sunday morning - more than they will ever realize.  I am forever grateful for their kindness to me.  I won’t ever forget the overwhelming sense of peace and joy that gift basket of kindness brought my soul.  The best part?  I saw God in that gift basket.  Even more than that I saw His kindness.

It was given freely, expecting absolutely nothing in return.  God’s kindness to us works the same way.  He is always kindly and patiently waiting for us to turn to Him.  This process can take some time.  It probably will, honestly. 

God already knows that.  He knows more about us than we will ever know.  He sees all our mistakes and loves us anyway.  Isn’t that great? The Creator of the universe is kind to us in spite of our sinful flesh.  When He looks at you and me, sin no longer defines our character in Christ. Why? Our God is righteous.  He is love.  He is patient.  Those are just of a few of His attributes. 

The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness. Psalm 145:17 NLT

I’m so grateful for the kindness God has shown me over the years through Himself and others.  It has taken me quite some time to understand the depth and pursuit of His kindness.  I still don’t understand everything about it. 

I probably won’t until Heaven.

And I’m okay with that.

Look for God’s kindness everyday.  Ask Him to reveal it to you in ways you’d never expect.  It’s amazing what we can see through a Heavenly perspective.

Sweet Jesus, thanks for being God.  Thanks for being righteous and kind in everything You do for us.  Help us to see everyone around us with the spirit of kindness that You have shown us countless times.  In Your Name, Amen.

© 2017 by Andrea Pierce.  All rights reserved.

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