Daily Bread Devotional April 18

Have you ever felt the warmth of a hug during a moment of sorrow, or the reassuring hand of a friend in times of uncertainty? Our latest podcast episode wraps you in the embrace of God's Tender Love, as we reflect on the devotional insights from Our Daily Bread and the comforting words of Hosea 11:4. We navigate the intricate dance of viewing the Divine as a nurturing parent, recognizing the profound impact of earthly role models who channel this love in their daily lives. Through heartfelt anecdotes, we explore how friends and mentors mirror that paternal kindness, offering a shoulder to lean on and wisdom to guide us.


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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:20

Good morning Ginger Adventures. In this episode I will be doing April 18th devotional from Our Daily Bread. If you would like to see that entire devotional, you may go to odborg and you will be able to see the entire story and all the scriptures that are listed with that story. In my podcast I do not give the entire devotional because I do not want to do anything wrong with copyright. I just give you a summary of the devotional and I do also give you the exact scripture that goes with the devotional. I love sharing these because I've had so many people enjoy them and it's really nice to be able to have that discussion with people about devotionals, in my opinion. So I absolutely love that I'm getting a chance to share these.

Speaker 1: 1:10

The title for today's devotional is God's Tender Love and the scripture verse that they are highlighting is Hosea 11.4. To them, I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek. So in the devotional the author basically talks about how different people receive sorry, how people receive comfort different ways. Um, he's talking about first that a small child, a baby, two, six month old, when they go in to get their vaccinations. It can be very traumatizing for some kids. I believe it's really more traumatizing when they're older and they recognize that needle coming. I know it was for my kids, but even for babies that you know, a sudden pain that they're in can be traumatizing. And when a parent is there with their child that's getting vaccinated and they're able to show that child love by hugging that child, by holding that child close, by touching their cheek, by whispering words of reassurance to them, that is very comforting to that child, reassurance to them. That is very comforting to that child. And so when in scripture we hear about how God loves us, we're able to take that image of a parent comforting their child during vaccinations and look at God as being similar to that parent, that God can be our loving father.

Speaker 1: 2:44

I believe that that is really, really important. I know that for some people it's really hard to see God as a father figure because they may not have had a good relationship with their father, they may not have a father and it can be really hard for people to look at God as being that type of figure. I think that's where it's important for adults like me, inside of a school building like mine, where we can show certain roles and examples to our children, because a lot of our children they don't have fathers or they have fathers that don't treat them right. They have parents that don't treat them right. They have bad family backgrounds, bad home lives and I believe that's really important that we as teachers, are able to be stable in their lives. We're able to give them reassurance and comfort and love inside of our classroom, and that's a great way to show kids that God is like that, that God is love, that God shows kindness and forgiveness and mercy, like when I have a child that is melting down, just taking the time to go to that child and wrap my arm around them and say, hey, you know what's going on.

Speaker 1: 4:06

God is like that with us. God is very personal with us. God is not distant and far away from us. He wants us to come to him. He wants us to seek comfort from him. He wants us to know that he loves us and he is with us at all times.

Speaker 1: 4:23

I believe that we forget that a lot, that God is with us at all times. We get so wrapped up in what we're doing that when something bad happens, we think that God is far away, since we walked far away. But the truth is he's not Friends. He is not. No matter what we have going on, no matter what mess we get into, god never left us. We may have walked away from God, but God never left us. He is always nearby and if we shout out to him he will hear us and he will help us out of any mess that we get ourselves in. There's no mess too big for God to help us. I love that. It gives scripture here in the bottom of the devotional talking about God calling us his children in 1 John 3, 1, and that his comforting arms are open to receive us. 2 Corinthians 1, 3-4.

Speaker 1: 5:18

Now there are questions at the bottom of this devotional and I do want to go over those. How have you experienced the love of God as a caring father? What concerns might you bring to him today? I have experienced God's love through other people. There are so many amazing people in my life and I see God's love through them. My one best friend, my tech best friend of seven years. He told me once I show God's love through the things that I do for you and my other friends, and I had to agree with him. He's very right the things that he does for me. It's showing me that he loves me, but it's also showing me that God loves me, because God provided that friend to me.

Speaker 1: 6:05

Another friend that has just made a huge difference for me is a fellow teacher here at school that has been my number one mentor for the last three years and she is just a walking sunbeam for the entire school she's. I see God's love through her every single day and every single moment. She is one of the most amazing people you will ever have the pleasure of meeting and she has had such a huge positive impact on my life Definitely God loving me through her. And then this past year I've had the chance to become best friends with this person that I met to become best friends with this person that I met, and I have connected with this person in ways I've never connected with anybody else in my life. He is an absolute prayer warrior. He is an amazing example of how to live your Christian faith out loud and I feel God's love from him. Multiple times in a day I'll have moments where I am so anxious and upset and struggling and this friend will send a text or will call and it completely turns my day around y'all. That is definitely showing God's love for me. So for me it's definitely the people in my life.

Speaker 1: 7:25

I try to bring all my concerns to god. I try to be way more aware of being able to do so, like being able to see the example of my friend that is such a prayer warrior. He will stop and pray wherever he's at like with no hesitation, and I've been trying to copy that same behavior where if I have a concern, I will try to stop immediately and pray about it. If somebody says, hey, I'm struggling with this, I'm like let's pray and pray about it immediately and I'm going to tell y'all it has made a difference. It is helping my attitude be more positive. It is helping me be more thankful. It is helping me be more aware of when the devil's pushing buttons.

Speaker 1: 8:07

I'm telling y'all, taking that moment to stop and pray about any concern that I see happening has really truly made a difference. God always answers. It may not be the answer we're looking for, but I have become so aware of how God always answers. That's all I have today for this episode. Friends, I would love to hear if you have comments, questions, prayer requests. Please feel free to reach out to me. You can reach me at Avengers of Ginger, at gmailcom. You can also reach me at Twitter, at Ginger Adventures, also on Facebook facebookcom slash adventuresofginger. I look forward to hearing from all of you. See you on the wild side.