Do you have a house of a friend or family member that you can go into at any time, without knocking, just knowing that you will be welcome? That used to be my grandparent’s house. I grew up in the same town where Nanny and Pa lived and my siblings and I went there frequently. After all, they were less than a fifteen minute drive away. We just had to open the door and say, “We’re here!” Then we would be welcomed with, “Come on in. Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?” Of course, we had snacks there, and that was nice, but what I really remember is that I could talk to them and Nanny and Pa would listen. They were never too busy just to listen, no matter what was going on in their own lives. That is how our Heavenly Father is.

Because of Jesus’s blood and sacrifice, I can go into God’s house at any time. I am in awe of His love and care for me. I just read a devotional by Joyce Meyer about how sometimes we forget to be thankful because we start to take God’s amazing love for granted. He is still working in our lives daily; salvation was just the beginning, and I never want to take Him for granted. Today, I was thinking about each of my grandchildren and their special qualities. They are all different, with their own talents and abilities. And I realized that is how God sees me. I am not just part of a crowd of people who accepted Him as my Savior on February 28, 1973. He sees me as an individual with my own talents and abilities. He also sees my weaknesses and accepts me just as I am. I bow down before Him not because of what He has done for me (and He has done a lot in the last four and a half decades), but I revere Him because of Who He is. He is Jehovah, the God of the entire Universe and yet He takes time to speak to my heart, to calm my fears and to lead me daily to the springs of living water that will refresh me. I hope you know this God that is my Father. I hope that you can enter into His house. It won’t be locked, and He will always say, “Come on in. Are you hungry?” And then He will just listen to me as I tell Him my frustrations and fears and just about my day. If I’m quiet, He will talk to me, too. If you need a friend, He is the best that there could ever be! He’s just pure love and acceptance; yes, He corrects me when I need it, but He does it so very gently. Then, he continues to feed me from His Word so that I am ready to go out and tackle the rest of my day, knowing that He has my back. The God of all the world has my back! Knock and go on in. He’s waiting for you.