Category: father

To Be a Child of God

Posted on by Susan Panzica

John 1-12

I don’t think I ever really understood what it meant to be a child of God until I had children of my own. My relationships with my natural parents were often strained, so when I became a Christian, my understanding of the Father nature of God was more head knowledge than heart knowledge.

That is until my daughter was born, and I was overwhelmed with unconditional love for her and began to catch a glimmer of the love the Father has for me. Then when I was pregnant with my son, I was terrified that I wouldn’t have enough love for the child in my womb because my love for my daughter seemed the max that a person could have. How amazing that when that little boy arrived, the measure of love in my heart grew exponentially!

And I began to glean glimpses of how completely and unconditionally my heavenly Father loves me. I’m still learning what it means to be a child of God, but there are a few things I’ve gathered:

  • As His child, I am secure.  I can’t become more a “child of God” by anything I do or achieve. And I can’t become less a “child of God” no matter how many times I fail. When God is your Father, you are His child, and nothing I do can change that. I am His eternally.
  • As His child, I must not be childish. The Apostle Paul wrote, “When I was I child, I spoke as a child, but when I matured, I put away childish things.” (1 Cor. 13:11). Being childish includes being selfish, self-centered, immature, jealous, wanting MY way instead of HIS way.
  • Yet, I must be childlike.  Jesus said, “Unless you become like a child, you cannot see the kingdom of God.” (Matt. 18:3) Being childlike means that I see the world through childlike eyes. I trust; I am teachable; I am not prejudiced; I am generous, innocent, care-free knowing that my Father has all things under control.

As a child of God, we have complete assurance that we belong to our Father. He loves us with an unconditional love. When we are born-again of the Spirit, we are both born and adopted into the family of God and become a joint heir with Jesus Christ. This relationship gives us rights and privileges, as well as responsibilities.

Knowing the difference between being childlike and childish is the key to maturity. Our Father God, our Abba – translated Daddy, is not distant or aloof. He invites us into an intimate, secure family relationship.

My relationship with my earthly dad may have been difficult, but now I celebrate my heavenly Father each Father’s Day!

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12  

 

 

 

A River Walk Talk

Posted on by Susan Panzica

Today, my guest blogger is my friend Mina’s 14-year-old daughter, Ellen. She is sharing her testimony of what God spoke to her at Harvest Christian Fellowhship’s Women’s Retreat last month.

After the workshop at the HCF Women’s Retreat of 2010, I decided to take a walk because the message was very heavy. The subject was “Rejoicing in Trials,” and I had been having conflicting feelings about a crush on a boy at my school. So I put my coat and sneakers on, and left to walk along the river. The sky was completely blue, and there was no sound except the wind. I decided to put my iPod on and listen to a song that I call “Me and God’s song.” The song is Beloved by Tenth Avenue North. I was listening to the song and looking at the water, when all of a sudden, I heard a voice in my head, and it said “Look at the water.”


And I replied “Yeah?”


Then it said, “How is the water moving?”


I replied, “That way.” and I was pointing to the right, which was the way the water was flowing.


The voice in my head said, “No, I mean symmetrically.”


I replied, “As one.”


And what it said next brought me to tears.


“Exactly, and that is how I want to be with you, but you keep pushing me away.” This is when I began to cry, my heart broke to hear that. So, to my surprise the next thing he said was “Ellen, will you be my bride?”


And my response is what I will never forget. I said, “You will be my daddy, my husband, and my best friend.”


Since that point, I have realized that I have started becoming the woman that God wants me to be. I strayed away, but I realized that still, through everything I’ve done, God loves me so much. I will never forget that day.

And, Ellen, I will never forget your testimony. You have moved me to tears, and I pray that I too walk symmetrically as one with my Lord, my Abba daddy, by husband, my best friend.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea-billows roll—
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul. —Spafford

Susan

Happy Anniversary To Me – A Gift For You!

Posted on by Susan Panzica

Today is my one year anniversary! Who would believe it? Not me!


I started blogging as a way to practice and improve my writing skills, and hopefully, to encourage someone in the process. It has turned into a sweet blessing for me, making so many new friends in cyberspace. My life will never be the same because of you!

To thank you for your encouragement and support over the past year, I am hosting my first “give-away”. Everyone who shares a comment will be entered in a drawing for the newest Max Lucado book “Fearless”. To be eligible to win, please leave me a comment on the blog (http://www.eternitycafe.blogspot.com/) or reply to this email. Be sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you win. At the end of the week, one of my kids will pull the winning name.


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To commemorate this anniversary, I’m sharing my first blogpost, still one of my favorites!
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Monday, October 13, 2008
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Thanks for visiting Eternity Cafe today. Well, friends, I’m finally in the 21st century, and here’s my first post!! It is my desire that this blog will serve to shine God’s light in your life and mine. I just love to share ideas, stories, illustrations, photos, even recipes as they come to me, either through my crazy brain or by way of email, devotions, sermons, conversation, etc. I hope that you will join me adding your insights by posting your comments.

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For my first post, I chose a story that is near and dear to my heart. Years ago, when my 20 year old daughter was just four, we were standing side by side in church singing during the worship service. (By the way, she now stands beside her dad as she plays bass guitar leading the worship with him! How time flies!) But at that time, my observant little girl asked me a question. She said, “Why do people raise their hands when they worship?” I was just about to share my great wisdom with her, providing some brilliant answer when I felt the Lord just shutting my mouth tight. So I asked her, “Why do you think that people raise their hands when they worship?” To which she thoughtfully replied, “I think that they are holding hands with God.”
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From that moment on, I always asked her (and my son) what they thought before I provided my answer!
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Her answer revealed so much insight into what our relationship with God ought to be. It was the prophet Micah who said, “He has showed you, O man (or woman), what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” You might say “… to walk holding hands with God.”
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Now just imagine that you are a child holding the hand of your Father. His hand covers yours, and you feel His protection. He is so much bigger than you are. He is gripping you tightly because He doesn’t want to lose you. He doesn’t want any harm to come to you. He wants to protect you, even though sometimes He allows you to reap consequences, because that too, is for your good.
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Imagine as you hold His hand where His eyes are. He can see across the street. He can see what lies ahead. He can see where the dangers are, and He can shield you from them. Imagine His vision and realize how limited your vision is. And remember, when a child holds her daddy’s hand, it is gripped and supported – He is doing the holding! It is not nearly as difficult as when you try to keep your hand raised in your own strength.
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Imagine how much the owner of that Hand loves you. How He cares for your every need, even those that you don’t realize you have. How His grip is a confirmation of how you are tenderly loved with a strength beyond your own understanding. Realize that if a great danger were heading your way, how He would push you out of the way, and sacrifice Himself that you might live.
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This is what it is to be a child of God.





Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand. Psalm 37:24
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“I want men (& women & children!) everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer.”
1 Timothy 2:8.

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Susan

God’s Eye View

Posted on by Susan Panzica
As the plane began its descent, I spotted a familiar circular building, a hotel on NJ’s Route 80. Knowing it was near my home, I scanned the landscape for other familiar landmarks. There’s the Garden State Plaza, Ikea and my house! Continuing to focus out the window, I spotted Route 46, Teterboro Airport with its tiny white planes scattered on the tarmac, two Giant Stadiums side-by-side next to the watery Meadowlands landscape. I spotted Lady Liberty, gracefully welcoming visitors amid the busyness of New York City and Port Newark.
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As we neared Newark Airport, I spied stacks of brightly colored containers that looked like a Crayola box, but were in fact huge trailers. There were boats in the port unloading their container cargo, trains racing, planes taxiing, and cars, trucks & buses speeding along the roadways. This birds-eye view enabled me to see a wide spectrum of activity so familiar to me, yet never seen all at once. Since I am usually on the ground amid all this activity, I can never see what is beyond my sight distance. I don’t know that around the bend may be a dangerous accident or that there is a fire burning a few miles away. I am limited in my vision because I am on the ground. But up here in the sky, I can see the bigger picture.
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Hmmm, maybe that’s why I can trust that God knows more than me! I can only see with limited vision, but He can see the big picture. He knows my past, my present and my future. My own memory of my past is colored by various emotions. My present may be pretty clear at the moment. But my future is a complete unknown. And I can only discern that which is in my immediate vicinity. But God can see it all. He knows when I stand and when I sit (Ps 139:2). He knows when you stand and sit. He knows when his child on the other side of the world stands and sits. He knows who I will meet tomorrow. Is there anything He doesn’t know? I don’t know! But He does!
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So our challenge is to fully put our trust in a God who fully deserves it. When we totally grasp that He is not limited as we are, we are able to release what we hold onto and leave it in His capable arms.
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Broken Dreams
By: Author Unknown
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As children bring their broken toys
With tears for us to mend,
I brought my broken dreams to God
Because He was my friend.
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But then instead of leaving Him
In peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help
With ways that were my own.
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At last I snatched them back and cried,
“How could you be so slow”
“My child,” He said, “What could I do?
You never did let go.”
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Will you let go to the God who sees it all ?

Susan