You think you love your kids?

By Rachel Armenta

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

The room was filled with a soft, cheerful light that glowed from the bedside lamp. The green clock on the photo shelf ticked quietly to 8:32.

It was bedtime for the little brown-haired boy that cuddled in his daddy's arms. A pajama-clad foot flicked and tapped the edge of the vintage rocking chair as a pudgy hand grabbed for the bottle of rice cereal in his father's hand.

I sat cross-legged on the daybed across from the repurposed rocker where my handsome husband and adorable baby gently moved back and forth. Daddy wanted to put Little Man to bed tonight and I was more than happy to sit there admiring my beautiful family.

As I contentedly smiled, my husband looked up at me and quietly said, "Isn't it just amazing?"

I nodded. He looked down at those light brown eyes that were stubbornly fighting sleep and said: "Isn't it just amazing that this is how God loves us? I would do anything to protect this little guy. Everything I have, I'd freely give to him."

As I watched my husband tenderly feeding our son his bottle and rocking him to sleep, I felt I had a tangible image of the love that our Father in heaven has for us.

The past seven months since becoming a parent have been the most intense crash course I've ever taken. College finals week doesn't even compare to the weeks of sleepless nights, trying to figure out what's wrong, what to do, and how on earth this little creature can produce so many dirty diapers.

The best advice I ever received arrived a week before my son was born. One of the kindest mothers I know told me, "You may not know what you need when you become a momma, but God does. He will give you grace enough for each day."

That made so much more sense after being awake for 36 hours trying to soothe a fussy baby.

Those initial weeks are behind us now and each new challenge is matched by the Lord's ever-sustaining hand. I have discovered the true meaning of the parental catch-phrases.

Time just flies! I turned away for one minute!

Yet I have experienced an even greater reality: the love that God has for His children.

This truth hit home at my son’s medical appointment to receive his first vaccines.

I nervously waited while the doctor prepped the shots. As my little man lay sleepily in my arms under the influence of baby Tylenol the doctor swabbed his chubby thighs with rubbing alcohol where the shots would be administered.

I knew what was coming and I tightly gripped my little boy. The instant the first needle pricked his skin, he shrieked.

His cry pierced my heart so painfully that I stopped breathing for a few seconds.

The doctor made quick work of injecting shots number two and three. By this time, my baby’s face was almost purple from screaming, as huge tears matted his long lashes and trailed down his puffy cheeks. My little love struggled against my arms confused, surprised and in pain.

At this point, I started crying. It broke my heart to see my sweet babe so upset and miserable.

His wonderful doctor had to console me more than him. She patted me on the back and kept saying, “You’re okay, Momma. He’s all right; you’re all right, Momma.”

I looked down and saw that he was bleeding. I almost lost it. I can’t even begin to describe how the momma-bear instinct rose up inside me and made me want to kick that doctor.

Instead I just rocked my baby and told him how brave and wonderful and strong he was.

As the doctor left the room for some paperwork and I hugged my red-faced child, I realized this must be a tiny taste of how God feels.

Imagine yourself tucked in the arms of the Father of all fathers.

You are safe, secure, and never out of His sight. But life is to bring hardships and trials.

God allows things to happen that are surprising, painful and out of our control.

There are attacks that will come to stretch us to the limit as they build eternal character within us, and situations that can't be comprehended or explained. Just as I could not explain to my precious two-month-old that these vaccines were good for him and that, though it hurt, they were actually going to build a stronger immune system that could end up saving his life.

In the same way my son lashed out at me with kicks and flailing arms, trying to pull away, we can find ourselves lashing out at God when bad things happen.

Why is this happening? Why are You letting me go through this? Where are You, Lord?!

Even in those situations, even when we question the Maker of the universe, He never lets go. He never stops loving us. He never leaves.

When my little man fought against me, I just held him tighter. I hurt while he hurt, and cuddled with him all day and night as he fought a fever from the medicine. I never walked away.

If I, a flawed and imperfect earthly mother, can feel this kind of love and protectiveness for my son, how much more does our Father care for us? If I ache when my baby aches and cry when he cries, how much more pain does our heavenly Father feel when we are in pain? How much more does he want to protect, heal and hold us?

Jesus endured every pain we feel the day He was nailed to the cross. The only way that He will ever let us go in tribulation and heartache, is if we crawl through the holes in His hands and choose to walk away.

If you find yourself away from God, you can be sure He is not the one who left.

C.S. Lewis wrote: “Though our feelings come and go, God’s love for us does not.”

The Lord promises this in Dueteronomy 31:6: “He will never leave us, nor forsake us.”

As I continue on this journey of motherhood, I am amazed by the implicit trust and adoration my little son has for me and my husband. When I see it, I cannot help but pray for me to have that same kind of trust, love and devotion to my perfect heavenly Father, the Creator of all who calls me beloved and child.

In a sin-filled and depraved world, things will happen and difficulties will come, but rest in the Father. The One who shelters you in the shadow of His wing, who will uphold you with His righteous right hand, and “the Lord who keeps you from all harm and watches over your life” (Psalms 121:7).

Just like my husband holds our son in his strong arms, our Father in heaven will never let us go.