I am realizing I don’t have a lot of faith in the male population. Not that I don’t want them to succeed, don’t see their incredible value, or see the anointing of God on so many of their lives, but that I assume eventually if given the opportunity most of them will hurt me or someone I love. I’ve seen it over and over again, experienced it more times than I’d care to remember.
But there is one man, one man that has loved me through the worst, protected me in the darkest moments of my life, fought for me when I couldn’t fight anymore, and pointed me towards The Father unfailingly my entire life.
I tend to pull away from the male population…unless you remind me of him. Then I gravitate towards you because reminding me of him means you remind me of safety and unconditional love.
So if I tell you that you remind me of my Papa (dad), take it as the biggest compliment I could ever give you.
I was telling my life story yesterday and a story that means more to me than anything else came to my mind.
I was sitting in a chair facing my parents, anger, frustration, fear, guilt, and an unbelievable amount of shame was weighing me down. I knew the next words out of my Papa’s mouth. There were no other words that could come out of his mouth. He was about to kick me out of the house, tell me I wasn’t a part of the family anymore, make me leave. I was prepared. I was ready. I wouldn’t cry, I would take what I deserved and go with my head held high. I was ready to take the consequences for my actions.
Papa leaned towards me and looked me straight in the eyes. He just looked at me for a second and then said words that I will never forget “Are you ever going to lie to me again?”
I was taken aback. What? Where was the continued shame that I DESERVED?
With tears in my eyes I said “No, never”.
His reply? “Okay”.
My point in all this is that I realized I’ve had an earthly example of the Heavenly Father’s love my entire life. I got to hear my earthly father’s voice tell me I was forgiven and choose to trust me when I was utterly untrustworthy.
But, God does that for me everyday.
God sees this broken piece of pottery and chooses to trust it with the new wine. He has invited me to be a part of His beautiful plan to reach the world with His gospel of grace and love.
So, I guess I just wanted to say thank you to my Papa.
Thank you for being a real life example of our Heavenly Father. Thank you for teaching me what forgiveness looks like. Thank you for protecting me when others have hurt me, but teaching me to be humble and ask for forgiveness when I’ve hurt others. Thank you for standing in the trenches next to me and fighting for the things that are important. Thank you for being a reminder that men can be wonderful. Thank you for teaching me that my value comes from being who God has created me to be. Thank you for loving me unconditionally.
