A Picture of a Faithful Father

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.  He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.

Psalm 107:19-20

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me… to bind up the broken hearted. Isaiah 61:1

“I want you to say that again,” my counselor said slowly and directly.

“He wasn’t there because he doesn’t love me,” I repeated. (Referring to my earthly dad) It was painful to say the first time. The second time, I couldn’t hold back the tears. I tried. Regardless if the statement was true, it was how his absence made me feel.

I thought to myself, “I just don’t have the emotional energy to process this along with everything else right now.”

I had long known I had what I lovingly refer to as “daddy issues.” It was time to face some of them. Although I will never fully understand how deeply growing up without my earthly father has affected me, God has given me some clarity on much of this festering wound. It’s another space of brokenness in my life that His grace is sufficient to restore.

My heart has broken multiple times and for several different reasons. Some out of my control. Many times, from choices I made. All a result of this groaning world we live in. (Romans 8:22) I’m sure you can relate, friend.

Nobody gets out of this life without heartbreak. Even those of us with fathers in our homes carry daddy wounds. There is no earthly father that is able to love perfectly. Thank God for His graciousness in filling up our holes to make us whole.

Christ came for the broken hearted.

He came for me. He came for you.

To do what? To bind up. To heal. To save.

Not so that we could push our sadness down and away, and some how (although we never really do) leave it behind, but so we could experience the emptiness here and now and allow Him to come in and fill it with Himself.

Healing doesn’t mean moving on, but it does mean stepping forward. Healing means living in freedom with our broken hearts mended. We may walk with a limp, but we walk in freedom. He indeed binds up and as He binds, we are changed, forever. For the better.

He is well acquainted with grief. (Isaiah 53:3) Fall into the arms of a Savior who understands brokenness completely, (Hebrews 4:15) and broke Himself because of it.

Sadness will come again. It will come and don’t let anyone tell you not to let it, especially yourself. Don’t tuck it away to protect anyone. Don’t push it down because you don’t have the time. Find your safe places to process it.

In the meantime, remember that you have a heavenly father who has and is doing more than any earthly father ever could. Click here to read Psalm 107. I love the picture it gives of our faithful heavenly Father. He rescues. (6) He leads. (7) He faithfully loves. (8) He provides. (9) He disciplines. (12) He saves. (13b-14) He fights. (14b) He heals.(20) He orchestrates. (25) He guides. (30b) He defends. (40-41)

This is your Father. (Psalm 68:5)

The wounds of this life are fierce and our God is ferocious. He will stop at nothing in pursuit of our broken hearts.

Jesus would later pull out the scroll of Isaiah in the temple and declare that He was the fulfillment of this prophecy. (Luke 4:18-19)

He is the “everlasting father” we long for. (Isaiah 9:6) He is able to parent perfectly.

When hope is real…
I am loved by a faithful father.

Cheering you on,

#neverwithouthope #whenhopeisreal #faithfulfather