Talking to a Friend
On my way home from church while talking to a friend she went on sharing stories about her life and what it was like growing up in Puerto Rico. She shared about experiences lived during her high school senior year and early years of college.
She shared what her life was like and joyfully recounted her life experiences with her dad, uncles and compared and contrasted her dad back then and how he is now at the age of eighty.
My daughter and I sat in the car as I kept driving and I could not help but rejoice with her while she relived those moments—while simultaneously imagining myself in her story. I have no idea what it would like.
I asked myself how my daughter felt as she takes this in while sitting on the back sit.
Not everyone grows up with a father. Some of us may have never had an earthly father to tell us that things will be okay when we feel like our worlds are falling apart. To sit us on their laps or kiss us on our foreheads. To remind us that we can come to him when we need them the most. To play basketball, catch, or baseball. To teach us how how to hunt, or, how to surf or what being a macho man looks like. To remind us of the importance of looking at someome in their eyes when we shake their hands.
As females, this is really hard. Some of us have not had that father fight to teach us how to we should be treated by a real man, or to show us how bad butt we are when we drive stick and show us off by calling us daddy’s little princess, or the apple of his eye.
Some of us will never get to hear comments like, “That will be me one day,” while showing us a picture of a dad with a shotgun as his daughter goes to prom.
Some of us may have never had that father figure, and very well never will.
But all of us can have the loving, kind, endless, unrelenting, powerful, mighty, and supernatural love of a Heavenly Father who will forever care for, love, and protect us—who will never leave us nor forsake us. Who never stops looking out for us, even when we least deserve it.
Who finds ways to give us peace that somehow surpasses all understanding.
I am forever blessed to have made amends with my ABBA Father 15 years ago. I met Him as a child, as a teen I knew of Him, but as an adult I’ve gotten to know Him.
He’s been there when the world doesn’t make sense. He will continue to be there until I leave this earth, and He will welcome me when I go home to Him.
I’m not sure if you’ve had a father, if he passed when you were young, or abandoned your mommy or your mommy left him.
But this one’s dedicated to those who never got to experience the care, protection, warmth, and love of an earthly father. I know it hasn’t been easy.
Please know that you are not without a Father. And if you feel that way, you can call on to God and accept Him as such.
You are not an orphan.
You have a Heavenly Father who sees you, who knows you, and who has been with you every step of the way—even in the moments that felt empty, confusing, or unfair.
Where something was missing, He was present.
Where there was silence, He was still speaking.
Where there was hurt, He was still covering you.
Rest in His truth: you are not forgotten, and you are not alone.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” — Psalm 34:18
I’m not sure what your situation is today, but He is a “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.” — Psalm 68:5
He will not abandon you: He says “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” — John 14:18
No matter what: “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me.” — Psalm 27:10
May His peace hold you when you need Him the most.
Have a blessed day.
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