🙌 How Much More

I had an unexpected moment of revelation this week — one that came from a dream, a conversation, and the quiet places of my heart I don’t visit often. But out of it came a fresh understanding of something Jesus said that many of us know, but few of us really feel:

“If you, being human, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?”
— Matthew 7:11

Most of us read that verse and think: “Yeah, God is generous.”
But this week, it became something much deeper.

Because I began to understand it through the heart of a parent.

Through my own desire to be a father.
Through seeing the ways my mother reflected the heart of God.
Through longing, through mistakes, through waiting, through love.

And suddenly, the verse opened up to me.

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The Parent You Long to Be Reveals the Parent God Already Is

There’s something in every parent — or every person who longs to be one — that imagines who they want to be:

The kind of father who shows up with wisdom and patience.
The kind of mother who listens with compassion and strength.
The kind of parent who guides, protects, and helps their child flourish.
The kind who sees the future even when the child can’t.
The kind who gives identity, not just provision.
The kind who leads with consistency, safety, and love.

That desire is not random.

It’s not imagination.
It’s not fantasy.
It’s not wishful thinking.

It is a reflection — a shadow — of the One who is how much more.

Every longing in you to be a better parent is evidence that He already is.

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He Has Been Where You Haven’t

My child hasn’t walked the years I’ve walked.
He hasn’t felt the things I’ve felt.
He hasn’t been a grown man yet.
But I have.

And that’s why, if he trusted me, it would mean so much.

Because I’ve seen the terrain he hasn’t crossed yet.
I know the paths that lead to life — and the ones that don’t.
I know where danger hides, and where hope grows.

And then it hit me:

God is the Ancient of Days.

Meaning…

He’s walked every path I’m afraid of.
He’s seen every future I can’t see.
He knows every valley before I step into it.
He knows the end from the beginning.

I’m walking through life for the first time.
He has never walked anything for the first time.

So when He says “wait,”
or “no,”
or “not yet,”
or “trust Me,”

He’s not controlling me.
He’s guiding me.

Like a parent guides a child who hasn’t been this way before.

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A Better Understanding of the “Waits” and the “No’s”

Parents know something children don’t:

Sometimes love looks like “not yet.”
Sometimes protection looks like a closed door.
Sometimes wisdom looks like redirection.
Sometimes care looks like slowing down.

Kids don’t always understand that — and neither do we.

But when Jesus said “how much more,” He was reminding us:

Your Father is wiser than you.
Your Father sees farther than you.
Your Father knows the path.

His “no” is never punishment.
His “wait” is never neglect.
His “not yet” is never rejection.

It’s sovereignty.
It’s mercy.
It’s love.
It’s protection.
It’s His faithfulness working in silence.

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He Leads Us With His Heart, Not His Hand

When I think of how I want to guide my child…
it’s always with:

• wisdom

• understanding

• counsel

• might

• knowledge

• patience

• gentleness

• intention

• long-term vision

And God leads us the very same way — only perfectly.

He leads with sovereignty.
He leads with graciousness.
He leads with mercy.
He leads with slowness to anger.
He leads with love that abounds.
He leads with faithfulness that endures.

He follows us with goodness and mercy.
He assigns angels charge over us.
He walks with us when we feel alone.
He prepares paths we can’t even see yet.

And He does it because His thoughts toward us truly are:

“Thoughts of peace and not of evil,
to give us a future and a hope.”
(Jeremiah 29:11)

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This Is Eternal Life

Jesus said:

“This is eternal life: to know Him.”
(John 17:3)

Not just know about Him.
Not just know His commandments.
Not just know His blessings.

But to know His heart.

To understand:

• why He waits,

• why He closes some doors,

• why He opens others,

• why He guides,

• why He protects,

• why He fathers us the way He does.

And the more I understand what it means to be a parent…
the more I understand what it means that He is my Father in heaven, whose name is hallowed.

He is not distant.
He is not indifferent.
He is not harsh.

He is the how much more Father.

The One who has walked the terrain.
The One who knows the way.
The One whose thoughts toward me are good.
The One who leads me with love I can barely hold.
The One who is faithful even when I am not.
The One who sees my future and calls it “hope.”

And the One who always, always, always has my good in mind.

How much more.