To Be a Daughter First

Devotional, Faith
Man kneels to hug his young daughter at golden hour in a field. Text overlay reads: to be a daughter first: embracing your true identity

Last month I was able to attend an amazing retreat. It was called, “Daughter’s First.” The entire time we were lead through Psalm 23 with Ellie Holcomb’s song as our anthem: 

It was an amazing experience. I flew out to Colorado Springs for the first time and was able to rest, renew, and rekindle my relationship with God. Although I’ve always known in my head that I am a daughter to God, I have always struggled to connect that to my heart. I’ve focused more on the aspect of what it means to have God as Father. 

Although a good, and much needed connection to realize that God is our Father. I never thought about how it connects to my own identity. If God is my Father and Jesus my brother, what does it mean to be a daughter first? 

photo collage with top picture being a young blonde girl hugging her dad's neck and looking over his shoulder. the bottom image has an open Bible with pink and yellow tulips beside it. The text in the center reads: what does it really mean to be God's daughter?"

At the end of the retreat, all of the women gathered together one last time and stood in a circle. As we passed around the microphone, we spoke into it what it meant for each of us to “be a daughter first…” The answers and reflections were amazing. I found myself nodding and even wiping tears as I thought about my own relationship with God. 

Today I’d love to share some reflections I’ve had since then about what it means to be a daughter first. If you are a Christian, accepted Christ as your Savior, and given your life to Him, all of these things are true for you.

Photo of young girl with pigtails riding on her dads shoulders. Large text overlay reads 7 truths about being God's daughter (and why they matter)

To be a daughter first…..means:

  1. I am loved, seen, and never forgotten about. (Psalm 139)
  2. I am in the presence of God and He is with me. (Psalm 46:1)
  3. I do not earn my place at the table, it is just there for me. (Psalm 23)
  4. No one else gets to define who I really am. (I John 3:1)
  5. This role can never be taken away from me. (John 10:28)
  6. Productivity will not gain me more love. (1 John 4:19)
  7. Nothing can separate me from the love of God and I am no longer condemned. (Romans 8)

What would you add to this list? For you? If you could really gasp the words of Paul in Romans 8:31-39 what would that mean? 

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Take a moment. Read the rest of Romans 8 and spend time giving thanks to God that YOU are His daughter! 

Photo of a woman in white top laughing. Her hair is brown and her smile is big. Text overlay reads: embracing your true identity as God's daughter
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