Fatherly Love

A parent can be absent in so many ways: emotionally, physically.

I had a conversation with a dear friend yesterday about how kids are often the exact product of how their parents treated them. Working with young children, I find this heartbreakingly true when they beg for attention in negative ways, just to have attention at all. Or sweet when I witness small interactions of parents behaving in silly, ridiculous ways to laugh with their children.

Then I see the evidence of my own earthly father's absence. I see it when I look into the face of my younger sister and hurt at the fact that she probably doesn't actually remember what it means to be held by a daddy that loves her or who would do absolutely anything to make her happy because he didn't stick around long enough for the memories to be her own. I feel it on my birthday when my mind wonders off, falling onto the topic of this idea of a man my eight-year-old mind reminds me of & think of how much he has missed out on through the years. 13 years, wow. Wow.

A parents absence does change the lives of their children. It changes their ability to trust or depend on others. It effects the way they perceive themselves. When a child is abandoned, emotionally or physically, or both, they develop differently than the rest of the world. They have this void inside them that is seeking to be filled.

This is where things get sticky. We can find filling anywhere, truly, but nothing fills like the sweet, precious, sacrificial love of Jesus Christ.

He is the Father to the fatherless. What God says about you is the Truth.

Don't let the mistakes of a parent or the absence of what a parent was supposed to be define you.

Read and pray through Psalm 139, please. Come to terms with your identity though your Maker, your Father's perspective.

He knows your good & bad.
He refuses to leave you.
He restores every broken thing, every broken heart, every hurt.
He makes all things new.
He fills every missing thing in life and then gives even more.

You are beautiful, gifted. You are so special and so so loved.

Just wait, He has so much in store for you.
You are not a victim of your past.
You are part of Him, adopted into His kingdom, as His child, simply as a result of believing He is what He says He is. He is pleased to bring you joy and reveal His love & mercy to you in magnificent ways.

You are His.


I am yours, Sweet Father and you love me so well.