Healing Our Image of God (& offering our kids a better one)

Over the years, the simplest and best prayer practice I've found for healing our image of God and teaching kids how God loves them is based on a prayer found in Matt, Dennis & Sheila Linn's book, Simple Ways to Pray for Healing.  

In that book and in a previous book, Healing Our Image of God, they reiterate how we become like the God we adore!  So if the God we worship is critical, judgmental and condemning, guess what?  We're going to be critical, judgmental and condemning!   If the God we picture is stoic and distant...you got it...we're going to be stoic and distant.  And this can be passed along from generation to generation.  

One way to heal our image of God is to realize that God loves us at least as much as the person who has loved us most.

Take a moment to consider your image of God.  What words or images would you use to describe your view or understanding of God?  Would you like others to describe you in these ways?  If not, your image of God may be in need of healing.  

Or perhaps parts of you have a healthy view of God and parts of you do not.  This prayer has been instrumental in the on-going healing of my own image of God.  My inner critic can often have a very sanctimonious sounding voice and when I'm vulnerable I can easily mistake it as God's until I bring to mind a person who has loved me most.  This immediately exposes the false god and I am able to not only receive God's love but let God join me in my vulnerable place (which is transforming).

After facilitating this prayer with countless people, I've tweaked it from how it appears in the Linn's book, like adding the love of a pet because some people cannot recall a person who has loved them in a healthy way.   Or sometimes a pet is how God wants to best communicate love to us at a given time.   

Here's the prayer for you to try: 
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Receiving God's Love through the Person or Pet Who Loves You Most

1. Hit the pause button. Close your eyes. Listen to the sounds around you. Breathe in the love of God.
2. Bring to mind the person or pet who has loved you most (or at least the one who comes to mind in this moment). What is the special gift that person/pet has offered you? Unconditional love? Humor? Gentleness? Understanding? Wisdom? Take a moment to breathe it in as a way of gratitude. 
3. Now take a moment to be with God as you understand God. See if you can appreciate how God loves you in these very same ways! The person or pet who has loved you most are “faces” of God. How this person/pet loves you is the very way God wants to love you.
4. If you can't experience God loving you at least as much as the person who loves you the most, simply be with your hurt & longing. Breathe in God's love and let God love you just as you are. 

​I hope you'll try this prayer for a week and see what happens!  A bonus is that it makes us even more grateful for the person or pet who has loved us so well...and what happens then?  We cannot help but love them back!  It becomes a love circle of giving and receiving (which is exactly what the Trinity is)!!  Now that's a beautiful image of God!

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