What is your image of God? Has it changed since you were a child? What or who has influenced how you perceive God?
When I was twelve years old, my mother lost her 9 1/2 year battle with cancer and died. She was 43 years old. At the time, my image of God could be likened to that of a “Santa Claus figurine” of “going to find out whose naughty or nice” or a Father figure have does not allow anything “bad” to happen. As a result, I did have a crisis with my faith that lasted for many years.
Later, I came to realize that I needed to seek deeper images of God and grow beyond my childhood understanding of God.
The Scriptures gives us some beautiful images of God:
Binder of Wounds (Ezekiel 34:16)
Creator God (Genesis 1:1-26)
Ever-loving God (Psalm 136)
Light (Psalm 27)
Love ( 1 John 4:8)
Merciful God (Deut. 4:31)
Searcher of Hearts (Psalm 139)
The Bible contains varied images of God because God inspired diverse images. Developing mature images of God can be scary, because it requires trusting in God, and accepting life on God’s terms not my own.
Beautiful thought provoking writing. And the picture was awesome I love the old churches with the stained glass images. I am sorry about the loss of your mother that had to have been a very difficult time for you as a young person.
I hope you have good thoughts and memories of her.
take care
Oh, boy has my image of God changed! A lot!
But I have to admit that, much like my Southern accent returns when I get tired, I tend to fall into my old “Father Christmas” trap when I get weary.
My image of God changes. But my favorite one is the one where I am cradled in Hand, held close to His heart.
Thank you for this beautiful post! I am so sorry for the loss of your mom, so early in your life. And guess what–my dad also died at age 43 (did I already tell you that?)–but I was 18 at the time. And I really love this beautiful cathedral image!!
What church is that?
Margaret
I believe it is one of the cathedrals in France, although I cannot be certain . I used the free photo site http://www.morguefile.com/.
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