When my husband and I got engaged, one gift we gave one another was a pure bread apple-head seal point Siamese kitten we named “Nuffles”. I know, the name, right?! That’s a whole other story! Nuffles was 12 weeks old when we got him, and I adored everything about this cat. Reading up on Siamese (or “Meezers”) I learned that they possessed remarkable jumping capabilities and enjoyed leaping from great heights. Knowing what Nuffles was capable of I began to encourage him as a kitten to leap, building little step progressions for him in the beginning. The first time I ever saw him bypass all the progressive steps and just take one big flying leap onto the top surface, I was thrilled!

Nuffles

It’s been 10 years already since we lost Nuffy at age 12, and I miss him terribly. Thinking of him the other day and how he learned to jump, my thoughts turned towards babies when they are learning to walk. With a vision perhaps of where a child’s feet will potentially take them throughout their lifetime, parents do everything they can to encourage baby’s first steps. We cheer and applaud and record and share… And not once do we punish or scream or yell whenever baby falls backwards and plops onto their bottoms. No, we cheer them on even more because we know what they are capable of, right? Falling down and getting back up again is part of the process!

It was then that the Lord turned my thoughts towards how much He loves us and cheers us on as well. Like babes, spiritually we all learn to scooch first, then crawl, then walk, then run, right? And yet we so easily imagine God waiting to punish us or hold us accountable for every PLOP back down onto our bottoms. Why? If we don’t punish our babies for the many plops, where then do we get the idea that He punishes us in the midst of our faith walk? No, He’s cheering us on! ”Come on, you can do it! Get back up and try it again! My child, I know where your spiritual feet are destined to take you. I have created you with a plan, a purpose, a destiny that is unique to you and all that you love! Come on, you can do it!”

Next time the enemy crashes in and starts spitting out condemnation over you for doing the thing you don’t want to do, or making you feel guilty for not meeting up to your own standards, reject those thoughts! Get back up! Press in! God is for you! He’s cheering you on! He’s waiting with bended knee and arms outstretched in encouragement for you to walk right into a warm embrace!

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

Romans 8:1

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long;     we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:31-39