He is jealous for us…

- post from Mark -
(one scripture where God describes himself as a "jealous God" is 2 Corinthians 11:2 " I am jealous for you with a Godly jealousy")

Since we began fostering D, one of my greatest joys is bedtime.  

I’ll tell you why: From the moment D came into our lives, we were in love.  But the more time that D spends in our family, the deeper we fall in love. 

But I feel like I’ve built a special bond with D because of the one on one time that we share during bedtime. What started as an epic battle of the wills, has turned into a nice routine and time that I cherish (though tears still happen). We say goodnight to everyone and give kisses to Brittany and baby Giddy. As I change his diaper and put on his pjs, we joke and tickle each other. He loves to tickle people and make them laugh (or pretend to laugh).  We then turn on D’s turtle that softly illuminates the room and casts stars on the ceiling, to which he points up and  exclaims, “ooooooh, dars!” Then we walk over and he turns off the lights. 

And then comes my favorite part.  D will say, “sit, sit , sit!”  So we sit and cuddle in the nice recliner in his room.  He wraps his arms around my neck and rests his head on my shoulders.  I just hold him and pray for him while he chatters some and then finally quiets down. 

It’s in that moment I get a glimpse of how God sees us.  As I hold and pray for this sweet, precious little boy, my heart melts.  I often choke up.  My biggest desire, the thing that I want the most is to call this sweet boy mine.  I want to call D my son. I do not want other things to tug at his heart and pull him away from our family. I want to protect him and keep him safe and love him forever. 

I am jealous for him.

This is how God views us.  He wants a relationship with us and wants to call us his children.  He hates when we give our hearts to other things, and other things tug our heart away from Him. He weeps when we are far from him and his heart breaks when he can’t call us His.  He is jealous for us. 

More than anything I want to call D mine.  More than anything God wants to us to be His.  Remember that the next time you think that God is not fair, or that God is mean, or that God just has rules for us to follow.  God is far bigger than all that. He is a perfect father and loves us with a father's heart.

He is jealous for us.

Love, 

Mark