During a hard season in my life where every possible relationship was looking dire, it felt like I would never heal and things would never get better. I just couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. Even after walking with the Lord for years, processing everything through His Word, constant prayer and reflection, I would have my high mountains but I also had to walk through some deep valleys where I had to face the excruciating pain of the hurt I have faced in relationships over the years. 

But, as a typical Christian would say, God is good. He never fails to show up and be faithful. And there is no other way to describe it no matter who or what the situation is. I wish I could express it in a more creative way but its plain and simple. God is good. Period. 

This time, God showed up on a Sunday morning through a sermon series at my church about freedom. My pastor described an atypical morning – atypical because he writes his sermons in the woods – where he was sitting in his backyard, writing his sermon for three hours when his teenager daughter woke up at the crack of 10:03 AM (it was summer break, it’s okay!). He was in the middle of writing a sermon on “Be Free“ and he was in the middle of writing about how we act like we need to work up our way to being children of God as opposed to just being His children. Right at that exact moment, it seems that without saying a word, without asking permission, completely nonchalant about what he was doing, with her bedhead, she simply stepped over him to sit on the other side while draped in a blanket (despite the 86-degree weather!), sat down, and laid her head on his shoulder.

In that moment, my pastor said, he realized something profound: That was what it meant to be a child of God. God is not begrudgingly sitting with a checklist to allow us into His presence only if we got certain things right or didn’t sin a certain way. Just like his daughter, we don’t need to earn our way into God’s presence or act as if we have to prove ourselves. We are His children, and we’re invited to come to Him with the same confidence and trust.

At that point, my pastor was like, “that’s it. That’s what being His son or daughter is like. That’s exactly what Paul was trying to teach the Galatians – you are a child of God, why don’t you act a child of God?”.

So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “ Abba, Father.” 
Galatians 4:6-7

Our ability to enter His presence and receive His love is not based on our performance but our relationship with our Father. God gave everything by sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross so that He could adopt us as His sons and daughters by faith. He didn’t stop there. He wanted to deepen that relationship while we are still on this earth by making a way for the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead, to dwell in us so that we can truly have a relationship with Him. 

During this entire sermon series, I was in constant denial about my thought process rooted in works based righteousness. I was perfectly convinced that this series was for other people and not me. How silly! I didn’t realize until few weeks into the sermon series that maybe I don’t always focus on the works (notice my pride! I did rely on works to earn from God – not sure what – more than I’d admit at the time) but I didn’t act like a daughter of God either.  

Based on everything that God showed me during that sermon series, I came to face with the hard realization that at that point in time, I probably would NOT enter the presence of my Father with my bedhead, completely disturb all that He is engaged in, make my way next to Him without saying anything, and just lay my head my Father’s shoulder. Even though I AM His daughter. That picture of my supposed relationship – the relationship that my Father paid a heavy price for, was something I wasn’t truly walking in. And it hit me like a brick wall. It didn’t explain everything I was going through but it did explain why I was still not walking in the freedom that I already had in Christ. That explained why things felt dead and hopeless. It was amazing how long I went without understanding my thoughts and behavior that were rooted in this major problem. Or rather, the disconnect of it all.

And again, my Father is good! I began immediately hearing in the spirit what a daughter of God would look like and began noting it down in my church notebook. And God showed me that He had been unraveling the response to this question in my life WAY before I ever wondered or asked this question. He knew I would ask this question before I ever knew or cared to admit that I had the desperate need to ask this question. But still, He stepped in first and already took great care in answering this question through the curriculum of University of Life that He specifically prepared for me. 

And it was nothing short of amazing because everything in my walk with the Lord led me to this point. I saw how He had long began working in me so that He could not just show but inculcate every trait of His daughter in me. And the beautiful journey of life He has prepared for me with much love, patience, grace, and mercy was all so that I could truly believe in my position and authority as His daughter and be HER. And this very moment of great revelation led me to begin writing this blog immediately after I got home from church that day. I am so excited that you are reading this right now and praying that you too can experience this radical revelation and truly assume your position as His daughter and walk in that authority. 

One of the best places in the Word of God that talks about a woman’s perfect relationship with God, even though very brief, was the beginning in the book of Genesis. You will soon see why I am taking you there. A little patience. 

‘So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. ‘ Genesis 2:20-22

In the perfect world before the fall, Adam and Eve shared a flawless relationship with God. They knew no sin, no shame, and no fear. Everything was as it should be. This is the perfect picture of what it means to be in God’s presence, without hesitation, without earning it—simply as His beloved children. What I cherish the most about this verse and is a whole another blog post is that Eve knew God first, before she ever met Adam. I love that women were created to be under direct the headship of God but sin changed that forever and in the fallen world, men have become the spiritual leaders of women under the covenant of marriage. No wonder, I crave that intimacy with the Lord as a woman.

But, being neck deep in the sinful and imperfect world, and never knowing the perfect world that was in existence before the fall, it is very hard for me to envision or grasp or understand what perfection was like. The way God intended things to be. Before it was all perverted and infiltrated by the fall through which sin entered His perfect creation. No wonder I panicked and felt clueless in the moment.

However, the more I pondered this question, the more I realized that it is only by His grace that I can truly walk in the authority of being His daughter. As I remain anchored in Him, trusting in His grace, I can embrace my identity as His daughter —not through striving or performance, but through love, trust, and the unwavering assurance of my position in Him.