Picture what your ideal parent would be like. Try not to think about how much money they have or their ability to solve all your problems, but think about the perfect parent that you could call up and would tell you exactly what you need to hear. When you think about this parent, how would you describe them?
Most of the people that I ask this of think of similar things: the perfect parent is loving and kind. They listen non-judgmentally and help you to put things in context, they point you to God.
The reason that these themes are repeated is because we are all looking for similar things in life. We want to be known, we want to be loved, we want to be seen and also accepted. We seek this out in every relationship and become frustrated when the people close to us do not display these attributes.
But these are attributes of God. God is our perfect parent and I will use this as an exercise to help people discern some of what God wants them to know. Where we can struggle to connect to God's love because of everything associated with our theology and circumstances, we can connect to this ideal parent and our hearts tell us what God is saying because he is the only one that can love us perfectly. When we spend time listening to what the perfect parent would say, it is another way that God can speak to us because he placed any knowledge of perfect love in our hearts. When we picture perfect love, it is us reaching for him without knowing it.
What would the perfect parent want you to know about your current challenges? How can you listen to the voice that God has put in you and connect with more of his love? This path leads to comfort, acceptance, and more peace than we have ever known before.