My family got our first family pet last week. My four year old daughter has been wanting a four-legged creature pretty much since the day she could talk, and for her birthday we finally broke down and adopted a dog. She is very sweet, completely house trained, but extremely shy and timid, especially around the kids. Even though she runs almost every time they try to pet her, all three kids, especially my youngest, love her to pieces. Yesterday, the dog must have finally had enough, because the moment she saw an opportunity, she ran. After backing out of her collar when my husband was trying to get her to come in after her walk, we spent over an hour tracking down and then trying to catch the terrified and freezing pup. She has no idea how to be loved, and we are quite inexperienced in how to love an animal, but we are doing our best to show her that we love her very much.Unlike our love, our Heavenly Father loves us with a perfect love, and yet we sometimes run from Him in fear. Adam and Eve were afraid, so they hid from God. Jonah tried to run from God and found himself in the belly of a fish. I would guess that nearly everyone has run from Him at some time in our lives because we fear punishment for something we've done or maybe because we fear the calling God has for our lives. The only solution to running in fear is to simply trust His love.
So very true and a great encouraging verse to remember in times where we struggle with running from Him instead of to Him. I look forward to reading more of your reflections. :)
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