Week 3, the father heart of God!

Instead of head knowledge this week, we got a little personal and deep with our hearts.

Wednesday was when it started for me. One thing that hit me was that my opinion of God as a father was totally shaped by my opinion and view of my earthly father. It's crazy how we can do that and then make it so hard for us to grasp how much his love for us is unconditional, that he's not a distant and angry God, and that he loves me just as much as he loves his son, Jesus. Try and rap your mind around that!
Wednesday was the day that it started for me. Michael Burg, our teacher for the week started of for a really challenging question. "How did you view your father around the age of 12?" and then followed it up with, "How do you think he viewed you?" Pretty difficult questions, right? Lets just say it was difficult for me to go back there, but God gave me strength to be bold and vulnerable.

Later that class, Michael had us read a love letter from God and I went off a little ways to read it. I started to read it and Michael came over to pray for me and as he did, I just lost it! He prayed everything I needed to hear about God being MY daddy... So amazing and after that I just lost it. I have never felt so loved by my creator, it was incredible.

So went from that to two days strait of something I've never done before. We got into our small groups and forgave all the people who have done us wrong, big, small everything that God would bring to our minds and it was so amazing. I don't think I have ever felt so free from stuff that was holding me back. It was really difficult to be vulnerable and open at times, but it was so amazing and the things that my small group experienced were things that I will never forget!

Please pray for me as I go into this next week as we learn about the nature and character of God.

I will have my photo from the week posted as soon as possible.

Love,

Leah.