Hi, I’m Jennifer Mallan with Reliant Family Church in Tampa, Florida. Welcome to God Today. Listen. How many of us like do-overs? There are some things in life that are tough. We live in regret, we wonder what things would have, could have been like. I love the word of God. I live the God we serve that does these supernatural, beautiful, miraculous do-overs.
A little bit of my story is that I was given up for adoption and then consequently had a little bit of a broken adoption. In that, I had an absentee father. I know many of you can relate to that story as a believer. What do we do? We project how we related with our Earthly father, many times on to a perfect parent. A Heavenly Father who had nothing to do with the circumstances we were in.
When I first got born again, God gave me this scripture, this life word, this inheritance word. Listen, always when you are reading the word, ask God to give you those things that are your promises. Promises He is going to fail so you can see the goodness of God in the land of the living. Psalm 45:16 pops out of the page one day. When you are in the Psalms you are just praising. I was praising just having a Holy Ghost party – it pops out. It said, “The love you never receive from your father, I will give to you through your sons.” At the time I wasn’t married and I didn’t have a husband. I certainly wasn’t asking for boys because I thought they would be a handful.
Now, fast forward. I am the mom of 5 sons. Two we adopted, three were birthed from my heart. My husband and I have had 11 foster sons. We have four grandsons. Look at this promise. “The love that you never got from your father, I am going to give you through your sons.” Then it says, “You will raise them up to be princes in the land and on the Earth.” What restoration. What a God of do-overs. I don’t know what you are going through, but I want to tell you. That promise to me, I have seen it come to pass. I don’t know what you are going through. I don’t know if it is having a broken relationship with your father, having an absentee father, a detached father, an abusive father, an uninvolved, not an active father. But listen. That is not our Heavenly Father. We have this choice. We can stay stuck, focused on the shortcomings of men, on people, male figures in our life. Or are we going to trust God? Are we going to grab His promises? Are we going to say, “God, I know there are do-overs?” He promises us green pastures and still waters from Psalm 23. He says, “The Lord is our shepherd. We lack nothing.”
I want you to be encouraged today. I want you to look toward the future. That really is what faith and trust are – believing we can start over. Believing that His goodness and mercy are ahead of us. Believing no matter what we went through and what we are going through, there is a brighter day tomorrow. We will see the goodness of God in the land of the living. We will see His hand come. Be encouraged, forgive that imperfect parent, let go of the pain and the hurt, and the disappointment from a father that wasn’t there. Say, “God, what does my tomorrow hold?” Jesus is in our future. No matter what is ahead, He is already there. He is our Messiah, He is already there waiting. Can I pray with you today? Can I just speak encouragement? Can I speak life into you? Can I help you get your eyes off circumstances and get your eyes locked into your perfect Heavenly Father?
Lord, I pray you would touch my friend. I pray you would touch whoever is listening, whoever is watching, God. I thank you for that do-over. I thank you that you start again. I thank you that you make all things news. I thank you for your promises that are “yes” and “amen”. Lord, I ask today that you would get their eyes off their circumstance. Let them look up, let them look out and God, let them see you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.