📖"Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close."
Psalm 27:10
Some of us grew up in homes where emotions were either too much — or not enough. A mother whose storms came without warning. A father whose silence was louder than any shout. A step mom or step dad who were super critical & volatile. You might have spent your childhood trying to be invisible, good, small… anything to keep the peace.
I see you, beloved. That little girl inside you — the one who never knew when safety would slip through her fingers, she still needs to be held.
Maybe you’ve wondered why stability makes you nervous, why you expect rejection even in kind eyes, why you can be so strong for others and so unsure about receiving care for yourself.
It’s not because you're broken. It’s because you learned to survive without the very thing your soul needed most: safe love.
But here's the good news — your past doesn’t get to define your future.
📖 "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." — Psalm 147:3 (NKJV)
📖 "Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will hold me close." — Psalm 27:10 (NLT)
The love of Jesus is not erratic or absent. He doesn’t punish your needs. He doesn’t disappear when you're overwhelmed. He doesn’t shame your longing or silence your cry. He draws closer. He restores what was withheld. He gently uncurls the fists you’ve clenched for decades — and places peace inside.
You don’t have to prove anything to be worthy of affection. You don’t have to anticipate rejection. You don’t have to walk on eggshells in His presence.
There is a place where love is steady. Where safety isn't a trap but a promise That place is Jesus. That place is healing.
This image captures the silent ache of a child caught between emotional intensity and emotional absence — a little girl whose expression reveals the toll of walking on eggshells and carrying emotions too big for her frame. Her crossed arms speak of self-protection, her tears of a longing unmet. The mother's anger and the father's detachment frame her world, but not her future. This painting brings us face to face with the need for compassion, reminding us that Jesus meets us in that middle space — where no one else showed up — and speaks love over the ache.
Reflection:
Where in my life do I still anticipate emotional withdrawal or volatility? 🤔
What does safe love look and feel like to me now? 🤔
How has Jesus begun to heal places where my emotional needs were unmet? 🤔
What would I say to the little me who felt she had to be perfect to be loved? 🤔
You are not too much.
You are not too needy.
You are deeply, wholly, irrevocably loved. 💖
Life Application:
Affirmation:
Creative Prompt:
Draw or paint a version of your inner child held by Jesus. Let go of realism — focus on feeling. What colours feel safe? What is Jesus doing or saying in that scene? Let your heart speak through the brush.
Closing Prayer:
Jesus, You are my safe place. You are not like the ones who hurt me. You see the little girl in me who never felt protected, and You don’t turn away. I give You my coping — the silence, the overgiving, the fear of needing too much. Teach me what love without fear looks like. Rewire what life miswrote. Wrap me in Your presence until I know what it means to be held without fear. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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