THE BLESSING OF A NEW FATHER

Happy Father’s Day!  Is it exclamation point or a question mark?

For some it is a blessed day in which they have opportunity to bless and/or be blessed. But for some there have been no Happy Father’s Days!  Like Mother’s Day, it brings the folks to my mind who would rather not think about it. When they see others celebrating it will leave a sick feeling in their stomach.  There are people who will be looking for a card that fits. Some, thankfully, will find that there is no card that says anything like how great their Dad has been to them.  And some, hoping to honor a dad who deserves none,  will struggle to find one that says something close to the truth without being a complete farce.

The new beginning I want to talk about in this blog is the possibility of having a new father.  My father was absent from my life as a child and it was a very detrimental experience for me.  I remember longing for him with all my heart.  My folks divorced when I was quite small after my Dad finished a long tour in the marines.  I really don’t remember him ever being around.  He remarried and moved away.  I rarely even got to see him in my very young years.

I can still remember with joy when I first understood the scripture that says “When my father and mother forsook me, God took me up!”  Ps.27:10.  Suddenly I realized that I had not been a fatherless child at all.  In fact, because I did not have an earthly Dad who was around, I got to have the BEST DADDY OF THEM ALL!

I am wondering about you out there, the readers of this blog.  How does Father’s Day feel to you?  Does it illicit good feelings or bad feelings?  There are some of you who had great Dads.  My husband is such a father type.  He loves unconditionally; he extends mercy and grace until he is given no other choice; he really just wants all the people he loves to be happy!  I celebrate him this year!  I hope you had one like this.  But if you didn’t, then I hope that you have become a child of the Father who is the best One ever! 

Perhaps you are His child but you have not yet begun to experience it as a real relationship.  That is sad because that is what He wants with all of us, a vital and living relationship.  I have found that I can talk to Him and He actually listens to me and He cares about everything that I care about.  I know this because the evidence is the way things change once I have taken my concerns to Him in prayer!  WOW!  I’ll say it backwards. WOW!

Perhaps you think you cannot talk to your Heavenly Father!  You can!  There is a concept known in parenting literature as mirroring.  It is also found in the holy scripture at 2 Cor. 3:18.  "But we all, with unveiled faces, behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."  We can get into the presence of God and gaze into His eyes and be changed!

Some of you may have had less than satisfactory dads and by some miracle have become the kind of Dad that people are meant to have in this earthly life.  That would be one who models for his children the meaning of Father so they will be able to transition to having that relationship with the Heavenly Father.  Congratulations to You!  Few people really understand what the odds were against that happening.  Few people really know how that earthly relationship will impact the possibility of a heavenly one.

Some of you, statistics say about fifteen percent, had really awesome fathers of your own, but now have had a bad experience with the father of your own children.  That is very sad, because you really know what they are missing and your heart aches for them.  Even in this case, you have the hope of helping them to avail themselves of the loving relationship that is available with God Almighty!

Fatherless children exist, that is unmistakably true!  It can be ignored, but it cannot be denied!  It is a devastating thing to not have a dad with the Father’s heart!  But there is no reason for any one of us to remain fatherless or orphans when the God of the whole universe has extended His invitation to be adopted by Him.  John 14:18 “I will not leave you orphans”.  He wants to come to us.  But we have to come to Him first by responding to His invitation.

Ephesians 1 lays it out for us like this:  The God and Father of Jesus wants to bless us with spiritual blessings because He chose us and planned ahead of time that we would be adopted by Him and be accepted in His Son, Jesus,  the Beloved.  And not only that, but it goes on to say He has an inheritance for us and a purpose for us to carry out in this world – to be the praise of His glory!   

There is more, so much more!  I hope that you will take the time to read it.  Let it be a reverse father’s day card to you about your real Father in heaven!

If He is your Father but you have not experienced Him as vitally alive to you, come to Him today!  He is waiting!  And He will be excited to see you!  Just see yourself with Him, face to face with your eyes on His and He will mirror back to you who you are to Him.  You will see love and acceptances, respect and delight in His eyes for you.  And yes, you will be changed!  I know because that is how I have been changed from a fatherless child to His child.

I pray that not one of you will close out this father’s day feeling lost or alone!  No one needs to be fatherless one day longer!  If you have never had a father, come to Him today!  Put your hand in His and look into His face of love!  If you would like to know about how to do this, email me at sonshine1938@yahoo.com.  I will be happy to share with you!