Trailhead – Edition #8 – February 2026
Hello, fellow disciple-making parents!
Welcome to The Trailhead, a monthly devotional designed to help you begin each month with focus, encouragement, and intention. Just as a trailhead marks the beginning of a journey, The Trailhead exists to reorient our hearts as we step into another month of everyday family life and discipleship.
This month, we turn our attention to one of the most familiar, and yet most powerful truths about God – God is Love.
Quick Update
If you’ve been with us since September, you know that The Trailhead is walking through 12 aspects of God’s character. Each month, we’ll pause to remember who God is and how that shapes our parenting. Last month, we looked at God as our Provider. This month, we’ll focus on God’s sovereignty.
God Is Love
As we consider the love of God, read and reflect on these words from 1 John 4:16 (ESV):
“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
John begins this verse with a simple but powerful statement: “We have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.”
This verse is foundational to living out our relationship with Jesus, because before we can love others, we need to know and believe that God loves us. Yes, we can gather some inner strength to love others even when it is not easy, but that kind of love is unsustainable. Before we talk about how we love others, we are reminded of something even more foundational: God has already loved us.
This is not merely a sentimental idea of love. Scripture tells us that love is rooted in God’s very nature. It is not dependent on circumstances or emotions. John does not merely say that God shows love. He says that God is love.
To know God is to know love, because love flows from who He is. And notice how personal this is. John does not speak about God’s love in general terms. He speaks about the love that God has for us. As parents, we often spend our days focused on the needs, emotions, and growth of our children. This verse gently draws our attention back to something we also need every day: the reality that we are deeply and personally loved by God.
John goes on to say that those who “abide in love” abide in God. The word abide means to remain, to stay, to make your home. In other words, when we live in the steady confidence of God’s love, we are learning to live close to Him.
God’s love is not something we receive and then move on from. It is the place where our life with Him begins and the place where it continues to grow.
Reflections for Disciple-Making Parents
When we understand that God is love, it reshapes the way we lead our families. Our children will learn what love looks like by watching how we speak, how we forgive, and how we respond when life is stressful or relationships feel strained. We will not always love our kids perfectly, but we can consistently point them to the God whose love never fails. When we choose patience, extend grace, and speak truth with kindness, we give our children a small but powerful glimpse of the steady and unchanging love of their heavenly Father.
Life Application
Take time this week to thank God, out loud as a family, for the way He has shown His love to you. Read 1 John 4:7–12 together and talk about what it means that God is love. Look for one intentional way your family can show Christlike love to someone else this week.
Book Recommendation
Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers
by Dane C. Ortlund
Gentle and Lowly invites readers to see the heart of Jesus toward broken and weary people. Drawing from Scripture and Puritan writings, Dane Ortlund helps us understand that Christ is not reluctant or distant, but gentle, compassionate, and welcoming toward sinners and strugglers. This is a deeply encouraging book for parents who want to grow in confidence that God’s love is not fragile or conditional, but steady, patient, and full of grace for both them and their families.
Looking Ahead
Later this month on Discipleship Cliff, we will continue providing simple and practical family Bible study tools, including new Parent-Driven Discussions and resources designed to help you lead meaningful spiritual conversations with your kids.
Next month’s Trailhead will focus on another foundational truth about who God is: God is Patient. We will explore how God’s patience gives us hope when growth feels slow, and mistakes keep happening, and how we can help our children trust God’s gentle and steady work in their lives.
Closing Encouragement
As you begin this month, remember that your parenting does not rest on your strength or consistency alone. It rests on the unchanging love of God. God sees your faithfulness in the small moments. He knows the challenges you carry. And He continues to meet your family with steady, patient, and redeeming love. As you lead your children this month, let the love you have received from Christ shape the love you share in your home.
Additional Resources
Discipleship Beyond the Bible Stories
Love One Another – A Parent-Driven Discussion
Why Taking Your Kids to Church Matters
If you’re looking for some parent-specific encouragement along the way, The Trailhead is a short devotional for disciple-making parents delivered straight to your inbox. It’s a small, steady rhythm to help you keep following Jesus while you lead your family.
Leave a Reply