Those of us who have had a broken relationship with someone we've loved, such as a parent or spouse, can have great difficulty in believing that God wants a steady, loving, personal relationship with us. For example, those of us whose fathers have been abusive or have abandoned us find it hard to picture a God Who is a loving Father. We literally don't know what a loving Father is like!
Sometimes it's easier for people to believe in an impersonal benevolent Universe, for example, rather than in a Divine Person Who wants a personal relationship with them - because they don't want to take a risk and be wounded again.
And when we are deeply hurt by someone, it's so hard to believe that we are lovable. Thomas Merton says "The reason so few men believe in God is that they have ceased to believe that even a God can love them."
For such a wounded person to be able to take down his or her protective walls and become vulnerable and learn to believe in and trust in our Heavenly Father takes a great gift of grace from God, a great miracle of faith. Many wonderful faith journeys begin when a wounded non-believer desires faith and makes the choice to ask God in prayer for the grace to believe. For all we have to do is prayerfully ask, and God bends down to us and lets us experience the depth of His love for us! God reveals the depth of His tender Fatherhood.
One thing all of us eventually learns is that very few human beings are worthy of our complete trust. When we are wounded by someone close to us, we can question whether anyone is trustworthy, even God. Our trust struggle becomes a faith struggle. What a relief it is to pray for our faith and trust to be renewed and then re-discover in faith that the One Who always is worthy of our trust is God.
In Psalm 116, the psalmist says "I kept faith even when I said I am greatly afflicted.' I said in my alarm 'No one can be trusted.' How can I repay the Lord for all the good done for me?" The psalmist learned to trust God rather than the human beings who'd wounded him, and shares his faith journey with us.
When we picture the All-Powerful God Who created the Universe bending down to personally listen to us as individuals, how amazing and awesome is that! Scripture, our Church, many, many holy men and women, and the lessons of our own hearts tell us that God's personal love for us is true and real. How amazing it is that we never bore God. That God never even wants to stop listening to us! That our minds and hearts are open books to God and God accepts us and continually draws us closer in unity with Him.
If you want to discover how fragile and miniscule we are next to God, just think about how impatient you can become when listening to others. Knowing and trusting in God's constant, attentive Presence teaches us how to be better, more patient and loving listeners. And in being more loving and patient listeners with others, we help them discover how truly lovable they are. Knowing they are lovable gives others the courage to believe in and trust a Perfectly Loving Listener - Our God.