A Beautiful Illustration of Our Heavenly Father

Happy Tilly Grace - My
mother sees Tilly's
 great-great grandma,
Lucille Rice Goad, in 
her pleasant
countenance.

I am indebted to Tiffany Adkins Goad for providing perfect photographs from her family collection for this posting. We are glad to have her "transplant" to the Bend.
Tilly Grace and Her Daddy

One of the youngest Bend babies, Tilly Grace Goad, exudes happiness. Tilly Grace is the youngest little one in our church, too. I have hardly ever heard this cutie cry.

            After the final prayer in Sunday morning, things get busy as most people exit the sanctuary. We schedule a quick choir practice at that same time. Each Sunday, offering counters gather around the communion table to get an accurate total for the day’s monetary gifts in the offering plates. One Sunday, Tilly Grace had been jolly and joyful in her daddy’s arms most of the morning. As the choir practiced following the service, I saw Little Tilly Grace’s sad face and heard a mournful cry from this wee one. She was being held by a loving relative, but as I perceived it, she glimpsed her daddy. He counted the offering diligently. She wanted him and his strong arms of security.

Tilly Grace is right where she wants to be -
in her daddy's arms. Casey, her dad, is a
fiftth generation Bender - through three
families -the Goads (Grover and Mary), the
 Rices (Joe and Effie), and the Colombes 
(Robert D. and Myrtle).

           Reflecting upon this event, I recalled the Apostle Paul’s powerful description of our heavenly father in Romans 8:15-16. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

When Tiffany sent this photo of the hands
of Casey and Tilly Grace, I thought how
many times little ones in the Big Bend have
held to the strong, loving hands of 
trustworthy, hard-working fathers.

By receiving Jesus, we are adopted into the family of God. This passage indicates there is no fear for a believer in Jesus. Paul reminds us that we are no longer shackled by the chains of sin and no longer cower in humiliation under the false accusations of Satan. Instead through the mercy, forgiveness, and grace of Jesus, we begin a close, loving father/child relationship.

In Psalm 107, four times this phrase appears …they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses… and validates the attentive Father who loves and responds to us. He is always attentive to our “cry.”

God gave Tilly Grace parents who love her by responding to her needs. They want only the best for this baby girl.

           Just as Casey and Tiffany want to give good things and experiences to Baby Tilly Grace, so our Heavenly Father desires the same for His children. May our utmost desire, as His beloved children by virtue of our faith in Jesus, be for that relationship of closeness to our Father. As we draw near Him through our Bible study and prayer, we can be assured of resting in His arms just like our Bend baby, Tilly Grace, nestles in the crook of her strong daddy’s arm.

I almost cropped out all but the upper left quadrant of this
fourth photo from Tiffany's digital family collection and then I 
imagined Dad saying, "You can't cut out the dog. Goads always had
dogs."