What You Need to Know This Christmas
Photo by Alisa Anton
When I was a child, my dad was my hero. His return from work each evening was a joy-filled moment for me. I would welcome him home by jumping into his arms.
But when I was about three years old, my parents divorced and Dad moved out. My little-girl life suddenly looked and felt much different without him in the house. I missed him every day.
That Christmas Eve, my mother asked me, “What do you really want for Christmas?”
“I just want my daddy back home,” I replied.
She listened and remarried him.
Your Heavenly Father and Your Dating Life
When we were kids, many of us considered our fathers our greatest heroes. We knew we were safe and secure in their arms.
Some of us, however, feel “broken” or like we’re missing something in this area. We don’t know our earthly fathers, or we grew up with our moms and had only the occasional visit from our fathers; some of us had fathers who were broken themselves and didn’t or couldn’t connect with us for whatever reason.
No matter what your relationship with your dad looks like, Jesus came to help you relate to your heavenly Father—and in turn relate to your earthly one.
Buried in our innermost being is a desire for closeness and deep connection with our earthly fathers, and this is meant to be the model for our relationship with our heavenly Father. To experience the best in falling in love, dating, marrying, and staying married, we need to know our heavenly Father’s love for us.
His Holy Spirit—the deepest part of Him—is right here to teach us about His heart. As we learn how much the Father loves us and how to trust Him, He will cause our hearts to become like that of an innocent little child (Matt. 18:3), one who trusts Him and jumps into His arms with delight, fully expecting to be amazed by Him.
The Reason for Christmas
Your heavenly Father wanted a relationship with you, so He sent His Son to become human, to fight for you, and to save you from your sins. Jesus was the fulfillment of a deep desire in God’s heart—to have you with Him.
At least four hundred Old-Testament prophecies were fulfilled with Jesus’ birth. God Himself came to this world as a baby, grew up just like the rest of us, and became an adult.
At the age of thirty-three, Jesus died the cruelest of deaths because of joy. That is what the Bible says: He endured the cross “for the joy set before him” (Heb. 12:2).
That joy was you. He wanted you to have the best of gifts—eternal life in His presence. He wanted you to be able to experience the kind of wonder that will leave you breathless, the kind of joy that brings uncontrollable laughter and delight.
Through Jesus, you have complete access to the heavenly Father who loves you. He is here for you. He is not ashamed of you. He is not angry with you. He just wants you to be with Him.
God is the One who wants to help you as you become healthy, date, fall in love, marry, and live with the amazing person He has for you.
God’s Heart for You This Christmas
You are your heavenly Father’s joy. He rejoices with you in your triumphs and wants to talk to you when you have questions. He knows all your pain and sorrow, and He will do anything to help you and get you out of these things.
But there is one thing He wants from you. He desires you to live in the wonder of who He is. Being like a child doesn’t mean being “childish” or immature—it is knowing deep, deep in your heart that you are a beloved son or daughter of the King. It also means understanding that you can trust Him with your whole heart because He will never let you down.
His love is more than enough, and His purpose and plans for you are good—really good! Wonder allows you to know and feel in the deepest part of your being that you are loved unconditionally.
This Christmas, may you discover in deeper ways the love of your heavenly Father. I pray that you would be able to trust Him as His prized child, marvel at His goodness, and take delight in the beauty of your King.
A Christmas Application
Sometime during this busy month of December, sit down with your heavenly Father and write a letter from Him to you. Don’t overthink the process; just ask Him what He wants to say and then start writing, knowing that He is ready to speak to you.
It might be helpful to start your letter this way:
My beloved child,
I want you to know I love you.
Have fun with this little exercise—it could just change your life.
On behalf of the Becoming the One team, we wish you a merry Christmas!
For more information on sex, marriage, and finding the person who is right for you, get a copy of Becoming the One by Salomé Roat. Click here to learn more.
You can also order the book in Spanish. Click here.