For now, we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  1 Corinthians 13:12

It is instinctive to overcorrect. If I was raised in an overly strict home and wounded by an iron hand, I may create a home with few boundaries. If I was raised in permissiveness and watched rebellion take its toll, I may parent with a heavy hand. Unprocessed pain has a way of swinging the pendulum to the opposite extreme.

The same principle holds true when God was misrepresented to me in my formative years. If I was taught that He was angry and unreasonable, I may grow up dismissing Him as Judge and Ruler in favor of a God who is only loving, only accepting, never confrontational. But overcorrection still distorts His face. As a child in His kingdom, I cannot afford to worship a God edited by my wounds.

Defining my past as God defines it is essential. When I allow Him to diagnose what happened, He drops a plumbline of truth through all my conclusions. I am the child of a Father who is perfectly whole. I do not need to flinch as He re-fathers me. I will discover Him to be loving and just, disciplinary and gentle, strong without being cruel, intimate without being unsafe. And as I know Him more truly, the distortions in my own parenting will begin to surface.

An imperfect upbringing isn’t the only catalyst that weaves distortions.  Satan devises schemes that build deception upon deception.  If he can get me to believe a lie about God, he knows that trust will erode.  I’ll accuse God of being too ‘one-way.’  This will wreak havoc on my parenting and in my relationship with my Heavenly Father. 

An imperfect upbringing is not the only thing that bends our view of God. Satan builds deception upon deception because he knows that one lie about God can slowly dismantle trust. Suspicion begins to shape both my relationship with Him and the way I relate to others. Every day, the Truth-teller comes after these lies. Why? Because lies wound the children He loves. And when those distortions spill into our own parenting, they wound the children we love.

Show me where I don’t yet know You.  Amen