My dad was the dad in the stands cheering me on at all of my basketball games. The next morning he had me in the gym at 6:30 shooting lay-up after lay-up before the school bell rang, always encouraging me to push myself.
He is the one I call when I know I need to hear the cold hard truth, because he's not afraid to call me out and tell me how it is. He's the one who calls ME when he knows I'm stubbornly running from it.
He's the one who is silent when I'm begging him to tell me what to do. "I can't live your life for you. Trust God. You know His voice, trust it."
He's the one who warns me of the consequences of doing life my way. When I continue on in my stiff-necked way and walk right into those consequences, he's the one who will cry with me when I'm hurting. I'm certain seeing me hurting, hurts him more.
He's the one who knows me to a depth I'm not sure I know. And yet somehow he still loves me.
My dad would protect and defend me to the bitter end. He has and will fight for me. Most of his fighting is on his knees, praying for God's truth to continually be revealed to me and against satan's lies.
I have said things to my dad that were hurtful and untrue. I have taken him for granted. I have disappointed him. And yet he's never left. He's never stopped loving me and believing in me.
My dad loves me. And he's not afraid to tell me he loves me.
My earthly dad is amazing. And he is human. And where his humanity is limiting, my heavenly Father's love is perfect and knows no bounds.
1 John 3:1 "How great is the love the Father has LAVISHED on us that we should be called children of God. And that we are!"
I love that word. Lavished. I picture His love as being so abundant that even though He pours it on us and we are soaking it in to deeper levels, we can never soak it in completely. There's always more.
I'm thankful for a heavenly father "with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." (James 1:17). I can rest securely in Him when it feels like everything around me is changing and uncertain.
I'm thankful for a heavenly father who will "never leave me or forsake me"(Deut. 31:6) Even when I do my best to push Him away, ignore Him, and run from Him.
I'm thankful for a heavenly Father who fights for me. Who says I'm worth it. (2 Chron 32:8)
I'm thankful for a heavenly Father who protects me. Who goes before me and behind me and hems me in. (Psalm 139: 5)
I'm thankful for a heavenly Father who prunes me. Who cuts off the dead and diseased parts of me and breathes life into the Imago Dei (image of God) in me; even when the pruning is so painful and raw. (John 15)
I'm thankful for a heavenly Father who won't let me be. Who relentlessly pursues me and woos me to Himself when I am trying my hardest to pretend I'm ok on my own. (Psalm 138:8)
I'm thankful He knows my innermost being so intimately that he can see right through my masquerades and pseudo-self that I so earnestly and desperately try to hide behind. And He loves me the same. (Psalm 139)
I'm thankful that He created me in His very likeness and image. That he formed me with His very hands. That He is the potter and I am the clay. That His very fingerprints are imbedded in me. (Isaiah 64:8)
This is my daddy. He painted the sunset with vibrant colors. He directs each wave as it crashes on the shores. He decorates the mountain tops with a covering of snow and sprinkles deep green pine trees all around. He breathes life into a mother's womb and a new life is formed. And He loves ME. Unfathomable.
I'm sure a lot of us signed our name on the bottom of an overpriced Father's Day card that dad read and tossed into the trash. Or at the very least you probably called your dad to wish him a happy Father's Day. Why not spend some time today with your heavenly daddy? It's always Father's Day with Him.
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