Dating and God's Pride

"I'm really proud of you."

Those were the words that I felt God say to me after I had asked a girl out for coffee a few years back.

Man. How's that for weird? Apart from the craziness that God speaks to us, to me, add in that he would choose to say he was proud of me for asking out a girl. I mean, wasn't I supposed to kiss dating goodbye at some point in my journey through my high school Christian culture? But he said he was proud of me or at least that is what I felt.

And I believe it.

God being proud of us for doing things that, for some of us, don't fall into the confines of what we think God would consider important. Wouldn't he save words like that for extended prayer times, after I taught at church, or when I shared my faith journey with a friend?

Evidently not.

He was proud of me for doing something that I was created to do. Be in relationships. Take risks. Especially take risks with my heart. Not something that I do very often. But it isn't even that. It's that God created us to do many things. Breathe. Eat. Work. Sleep. Talk. Smell. So if he made us for these things, could it be that he takes joy in us doing these things? To simplify, wouldn't it make sense that if he chose to create us - an intentional act of his will - that he would delight in us for simply being. For just existing. For those of us who have entered into his grace to us in Jesus, we are accepted and beloved - children of God. He is pleased with us for just being. He is proud of us for just doing what he created us to do, whether that is taking the risk to act out a girl or go climbing or lead a small group or apply for the promotion or venture into reading the Bible for the first time maybe. Maybe pray for the first time.

If we only were able to see how God sees and not how we think he sees based upon our projections. Whoa. Game over.

Check out some of these scriptures for reference: Psalm 18:19, Psalm 37:11, Psalm 41:11, Romans 8:38-39, Ephesians 1:18 just to name a few.