Matthew 18:1-5–cuddle puddles

Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me (Matthew 18:5)

these pure, kind, innocent, holy children are the heart of my father. the way they love and the way they welcome and the way they trust is nothing outside of divine. this is the very heart of Jesus–childlike. He wants us to love him like a child. it’s really not more complicated than that. this is why i do this. this is why i am here. because i am in the heart of Jesus and by welcoming these children, i am welcoming Him. and i want nothing more than to know His heart. i want to spend my life protecting and honoring and loving his children because this is what He would do. His heart yearns and breaks for the children in pain–and so does mine.

and so, for the rest of my nights i will open my door for slumber parties and movie nights and cuddle puddles and giggle-fests. i will use all of my heart to love God and in turn love these children. I will enter in and i will be with them. i won’t just dare to go. i will dare to know these kids: their pain and struggle and heartbreak. i will do the things that are hard and i will make sacrifices. for the rest of my days i will let children with dirty feet jump on my bed and give a sweet face my last lollipop. i will let them pull and my hair and cough in my face and drink from my water bottle and play on my phone. what’s mine is theirs. i will feed Jesus’ sheep and try to send kids to school and most importantly go deeper. it’s hard and scary and painful to go deeper into the lives of these broken souls but thats the thing about God’s love, it allows us to feel these things. it lets us go deeper because it already knows. i can feel hurt and pain and grief and still continue on because every time, God’s love catches me, renews me, pushes me back up to start loving all over again. this is my pursuit of God. it is not easy, but it is so good. it is joy and fullness and peace and satisfaction. it is pain and hunger and desperation and sadness. but it is right. i am supposed to be here.