Nothing separates us from God's love.

In the book of Romans, Paul tells us that nothing can separate us from God’s love. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39

Really? Nothing can separate me from God's love. Nothing? Sometimes I have a hard time believing this. Especially when I reflect on my past failures and mistakes. Maybe you do too?

Over the years I have messed up, blown it, and said and done things I wish I never said. I used to think I made mistakes because I was young and naive. I now realize that in order to grow, mistakes are going to keep happening. In addition, since becoming a parent, I am seeing even more how my mistakes not only affect my peace of mind, but also spill out into the everyday fabric of my family.

It didn’t take long to discover that the parenting “struggle is real”. There's no manual for this. When Amanda was pregnant with Lydia, we were glassy-eyed and star-gazed. We had nine months of a blissful pregnancy anticipating the arrival of our first-born. We did not read any books or listen to any podcasts. We did nothing to prepare for parenthood. We thought since we had good parents of our own, we would do just fine. YA RIGHT!

I will never forget when Lydia was born. That moment when the earth stands still and a healthy baby enters the room. Wow! Tears. Hugs. Kisses. Smells. The best moment ever! Until, within 24 hours they whisk up paperwork for days and throw language at you about birth certificates and certified car seats. Next thing we know we are packing in our car with a baby that is only 2 days old wondering how in the world are we supposed to do this? Where's the sweet nurse cheering us on and telling us we’re awesome. Where's the nice ice chip lady filling up my drink? Where's that one super sweet nurse that knew exactly how to swaddle? Well the journey of parenthood is no joke and I have made (and still do) a thousand mistakes along the way!

Fast forward to Lydia, now 7 years old, my most recent “parental blunder”: She's into clothes and style. Shocker. She's a girl. She was getting ready for school one morning and she was wearing something super nice for school. She was all excited and looked beautiful, but just not something I thought was appropriate for school.

Internal me: "Why is she dressed so nice for school? It's just school. This better not be about a boy. She's only 7. I need to say something."

External Me (Big Fat Mouth): "Hey Lid, you are dressed way too nice for school. You need to change. You do not need to look that nice for school. Go change. You will ruin those clothes and clothes are expensive."

#parentfail

Lydia stormed off crying, went to her room, closed the door and cried in her pillow. Is she 17 or 7? I am a horrible father!

Listen. If you have breath in your lungs, you are going to fail. Big fails and small fails. Failure in marriage and failure raising kids. Failing at work and home. Failure everywhere. There is significant failure that can have lasting impact and minor mistakes that can be cleaned up quickly with a little humility and love.

We are not perfect people.

We will make countless mistakes.

We will say the wrong thing and do the wrong thing.

It’s in our nature as humans.

This is why I love what the Apostle Paul says in Romans 8. Nothing separates us from the love of Jesus Christ. NOTHING. You can fail a thousand times and Jesus Christ will still love you. You can say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, and fall flat on your face, and God will still love you. There is nothing that separates his love for you.

God is love and always loving.

God is always seeking to save that which is lost.

God is always pursuing his kids.

Have you ever blown it? Have you ever done something you regret? Do you think that counts you out of God's love? Do you think that you are too bad? Too sinful? Too shameful for the love of Christ to accept you. You are not.

You are loved by God.

You are not forgotten.

You can repent.

You can change.

You can be forgiven.

You can apologize.

You can make it right.

You can walk in humility.

Today can be a brand new day of accepting God's everlasting love.

So friends, don’t forget that nothing in this world, mistakes both big and small, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.