My Father's Eyes: Seeing Yourself Through The Eyes Of Love

By Sandra Lott

My Father's Eyes: Seeing Yourself Through The Eyes Of Love takes you on a journey to see God's unconditional love. It is not about what you did or didn't do, but it is about His unconditional love. You will see people of the Bible who did horrible things, killed people, had people killed, abused, lied, and more, then s

• Language: English
• Publisher: Your New Life Ministries LLC
• Release date: Aug 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088276488

Sandra Lott

Sandra Lott was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, with one sister and two brothers. Sandra loves the mountains, making candles, and jewelry. She is the author of Jeremy's Journey, Deep Waters Within, A Princess in Waiting, Ride the Wind, and more. She has also written children's such as, The Wind Has a Voice and How Did He Get in There, Molly's Journey to Forgiveness, and more. She has written over 34 books to date and began writing poetry as soon as she was saved in June 1998. The Lord gave her, her first book to write right after her son was killed. Writing was not something she sought out. She poured her heart into time spent with the Lord in order to allow Him to heal her heart and the name of her first book was birthed in her spirit along with the chapters and what it was to be about during a devotion time. It was called: God's Love; ironically enough, with all that she was going through, God's love was exactly what she needed. She is passionate about studying the Bible. She has taught Sunday school, and Bible Study Groups, and has been actively serving in her present church, served in the Celebrate Recovery Ministry, and Homeless Outreach. Sandra was also interviewed on radio shows such as Golden Life Living and WMAP Radio (World's Most Amazing People based out of New York), the Bill Martinez show and a Fox Radio show called the Kim Kennedy Show. She is a devoted mother of 2 sons (Tim & Gerald Ray), Gerald Ray the youngest, has gone on to be with the Lord due to a car accident. Through the death of her youngest son at the age of 16, a rocky marriage to an alcoholic and the abuse that came with that, and other overwhelming trials, she has drawn close to the loving arms of the Father. Experiencing God's unconditional love as He held her heart in His hands, has created a passion in her to help others grow in their understanding of and receive God's love and grow spiritually. She has the heart to help hurting women discover the princess in Christ that they truly are and overcome abuse. She teaches on topics to help you reach spiritual maturity, persevere through the hard times, and how to reach your destiny in Christ!

Book preview

Prologue

Have you ever been in a place in your life, maybe you are there right now, in which you have felt overwhelming despair? How long has it been since you have felt healing love, if ever? A love so great, it heals all that is broken within you, heart and soul. Do you see yourself as a broken vessel, worthless and without hope? Are you brokenhearted? Have you traveled down a path you wish you had not taken? Have messed up royally along the way, possibly hurting people or maybe even destroying some lives?  Maybe you have lost loved ones and you are feeling all alone.

You are also probably wondering about me and what I could possibly know about any of the subjects I am writing about in this book. Well, I know a lot; life experience has taught me a lot about not feeling worthy of God’s love. I have dealt with most of the issues in this book either personally or through my family members. Although I have felt unworthy of God’s love due to my own sins, He has shown me over and over evidence of His love; the first being the realization that my sins were nailed Jesus to the cross, and just by believing and receiving Him, I receive eternal salvation God says, No charge, no other payment needed, Jesus already paid the price!  When you finally come to realize the same, no other proof of the love of God is needed.

I did some things before I was saved that tore my family apart. In addition, my son was killed in an automobile accident when he was 16 years old, and my husband had been an alcoholic and a drug addict for many, many years. The rage and other self-destructive qualities that it created in him helped to tear our family apart. Through all of this, our older son has also been through his share of issues. Every mother reading this book can probably identify with me when I say, that when your children hurt, it tears your heart apart. Through the things I have done, I have asked God, How can you possibly love me? I have felt unworthy of His love and yet that is the beauty of God’s love. It is not about us, it is about Him and His free gift of salvation. That is what free is, no charge; nothing needs to be done because He already did it over 2000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross. His grace and mercy are a gift and there is nothing we need to do to receive it except to ask.   As the song, Just As I Am says Just as I am and without one plea, I come, that is how God accepts us. God has shown me over and over that 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 8:39)

You are probably thinking you have done too much, you have hurt too many people and there is no chance God would ever forgive or love you.  Maybe people have made you feel inferior and worthless and you started believing that yourself and are thinking you, are not worthy of God’s love. Well, think again. God loved us first, and His love does not depend on who you are, or what you have or have not done. He is love and loves you because you are His; He created you. There is nothing you need to do to earn His love except receive it. He says, You are the apple of My eye. You may feel you are not worthy, but God says because you are and you exist, you are worthy! Reading this book will open your eyes and your heart to the truth of the Father’s love. He does not see you as worthless, He sees you as fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14) Your way is not hidden from God. He knows the roads in life that you have traveled, good or bad.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, ‘My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God?’ Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom.  He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:27-31)

This book deals with the issues of life, the roads those issues led you down, and what you have become because of them. As you read, you will begin to see yourself through the Father’s eyes, the way God sees you.  Let God speak to you as you read, and He will reveal His unconditional love to you. The Lord is compassionate and gracious; slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities (Psalm 103:8-10).

His love is the antidote to all the wrong choices you have made. Thanks to Jesus, you can start life anew! Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old had gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17). In Christ you can throw off the old and put on the new. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).

You will be new in Him. Jesus came to save the world, not to judge or condemn. Ask and you will be forgiven of all, no exceptions. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more (Hebrews 8:12). He came to make us whole, with nothing missing; nothing broken. God looks beyond the rough exterior and sees the heart. He loves from the inside out. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.  Your life is not news to Him. As you have taken the roads of destruction, God did not say, O Me, what has he/she done now?  No, He has been through your trials ahead of you.   But be assured today that the Lord your God is the One who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire (Deuteronomy 9:3).  He already knows what you have done and what lies ahead. He has already prepared interventions for you.  Since you are reading this book, this is one of them.

God saw the sin and the lusts of the world, the hatred and all the idolatry and He still chose to save us. That is love. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet, they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:11). God’s love is so amazing! He looks beyond all of our faults, our human imperfections, and the sins we commit and He loves us anyway. He loves us because of who we are, His children, and not because of what we do. There would be no one to love if it was based on our actions alone.

He created us in His image; therefore the joy and excitement we feel in the good times or when we are expecting something great to happen, He feels too. He also feels anger at His children being abused and mistreated. He hates sin but loves the sinner. He feels sadness when He sends people into our paths time and time again to witness and they are met with rejection. There is so much love and peace for those who know Him, yet people still reject Him. When those near-miss accidents have happened time after time in which you could have been seriously hurt, you never thought of thanking Him. He felt sadness. As the jobs came time after time that provided your income, you never once thought to thank Him. Instead, you looked for something wrong in the job to complain about.

Have you ever thought that we are all human and, We all fall short of the glory of God? (Romans 3:23) We are all flesh and God gave us free will to use for good or bad, it is our choice and no one on this earth is perfect. You will find people everywhere in life who do not appreciate you, misunderstand you, hurt your feelings, or mistreat you, instead of looking for something wrong in these situations, be grateful that you are not in the unemployment line. God feels sad.

Hate crimes such as murder, rape, and abuse, which are so rampant in the world, bring tears to His eyes. In Jeremiah 13:17 He says, But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; My eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.

The addictions of the world that people run to for temporary peace, instead of the permanent peace that He alone can give, make Him sad.

The disciples scattered when the soldiers came for Jesus.  We do the same thing every time we choose to sin. We turn our backs on Him. Jesus foretold their scattering in John 16:32, You will leave Me all alone. The soldiers came and took our Jesus away, and they still ran.

What an awesome God we serve! How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (1 John 3:1)

As the disciples scattered, we scatter as well and leave Him all alone each time we choose a path of self-righteousness, pride, lack of forgiveness, legalism, addiction, bitterness, or hatred instead of His path of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control and forgiveness. Despite this, He still chose to let them spit on Him, beat Him, insult Him, and place a crown of thorns on His head, all for us!

Can you imagine the sadness He felt? He was made in human form so He could understand our weaknesses and temptations, but along with that, He felt the same emotions too. Although the disciples scattered and we rejected Him, He still carried the cross. He carried it and was hung on it. He did this for us. That should have been me and should have been you, but He stepped in and took our place. To understand God’s love all you have to do is look at the cross. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans