Swaddled in Love

Liquid Love

A few years ago, I began to hear that some people have experienced God’s love like a liquid that was either poured over them or filled them from head to toe. What a wonderful expression of the Father’s love for us. How amazing that we can feel something so tangible from an ‘unseen’ God!

Waiting for it…

The way people explained this liquid love made it seem so good! I received prayer to know the Father’s love more deeply and tangibly. I had hopeful expectation that I’d get that ‘liquid love’ sense, but I didn’t. I knew God loved me. That was never up for debate. I was happy about my history with the Father, but deep down, I did want to experience that tangible love. I kept waiting… for years.

Inviting Him in…

Then, one night as I was trying to drift off to sleep, I suddenly started to feel fearful. Oftentimes my mind plays out the story of whatever bad thing that fear depicts and then I either try to ignore it or pray about it. But this night was different. As soon as I recognized that this was fear, I stopped those spiraling thoughts in their tracks! I said, ‘Holy Spirit, Jesus, Father, I invite you and I ask you to come now.’ I knew that only He could keep the fear from going any further.

Swaddled in Love…

Sure enough, I suddenly felt His ‘arms’ all around me. Since there were three that I invited in (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) I actually felt surrounded on all sides. But it wasn’t like actual arms hugging me because it was more all-encompassing, like I was being held, not just hugged. I felt a slight pressure around my body and then I realized that I was also feeling heat. This warmth moved from the outside-in. Then, it hit me! This is God’s love dispelling my fear!

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear… 1 John 4:18a

What I was experiencing was comforting and loving, but it was not what I would describe as ‘liquid’ love. So how would I describe it? A cocoon came to mind, but that’s not really very appealing to me. It seems a bit…binding.

Then I saw it. It was like being swaddled. Babies love to be swaddled because they can sense the bounds of where they are and they are warm and… they know they are safe – and that’s how I describe what I felt that night. I was swaddled in God’s love by the Heavenly Father himself.

There are so many times when we hear other people’s stories and experiences and we hope for the same exact experience for ourselves. But we serve a unique and creative God. He shows us His love in ways that make sense to our individual personalities! So, we can learn to trust God to give us our own, unique experiences with Him! It’s okay if they’re different from others’ or even from our own expectations. As we continue to lean into the Father, we will see how He is showing us His love in an individual and unique way.