Dad

Mom is one of the greatest gifts that God could have given to us. She’s passionate about us and she fiercely wraps us up in loving protection. She is our cheerleader and the one that understands. In the eyes of a child, mom has all the answers and she is the smartest lady in the world. No one can take the place of mom….. But what about dad? Dad is our strong and mighty tower. Noon is stronger than him and his love holds us together. Mom is important, but there is nothing like the love of a father. Isn’t it funny how we compare “being there” to the presence of a father? If you talk to most people about why they feel a certain away, they will start talking about the absence or presence of their father. We even compare the love of God to our dads. This can be a good or a bad things depending on the type of man that the dad in our lives is or was. The key word is the last sentence was man.

Today I got the opportunity to talk to myself. No, not literally, but me in the form a young girl that I met. I have never encountered someone that was going through so many of the same things that I had. Like me, she understands the gift of writing and depression. You may wonder what this has to do with dad, but life’s experiences influence our choices and the way that we think. We tend to feel like we are not good enough or worthy when a parent is absent in our lives. We blame ourselves and we wonder why. Some of us pray but still can’t see God. We feel ignored and began to tell ourselves that our real dad didn’t love us, so why should God? God is a dad. He is our dad. He is full of love and he understands us, but we fail to see it when we never had an example of love.

If your dad was not in your life growing up, I want you to know that God is not like man. He will never leave nor forsake you. He is with you forever and ever until the end of time. I pray that he reveals himself to you. I am a witness that he will prove his presence and love to you. Keep praying. He hears your concerns, your complaints, and yes, even you’re grunting. You are asking him where he is…… He is right beside you…. I pray that you open your eyes and see him….

"No power in the sky above or in the earth below--indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).

Comments

Turn Aside and See

“And Moses said, ‘I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.’ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush.” (Exodus 3:3-4a) Moses was born into both chaos and love. The chaos was Pharaoh demanding that growth be hindered by killing all the male babies, and the love was from God and his parents. Moses was consecrated in a hiding place and then in a dangerous river. He was found by faith and given the perspective of the slave and of royalty. Moses’ heart was never to be above, but to be at eye level with those he loved. Moses was already accepted by God, chosen, and loved. He was consecrated before he could understand purpose. Moses, in his passion, did something that no one accepted. He killed a man when he tried to protect another one. He went on the run, broken, but not alone. Moses didn’t cry. He adjusted. Pain was there, but so was provision and more lessons. ...

Need Prayer?

“But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22:32a). For a time, I didn’t ask people for prayer . I became protective of ‘my stuff,’ and I backed away from needing people because I had me-the army of one. I felt alone, misunderstood; all the things that I wanted no one to know about because I got me . This mindset created offense and functional depression. I backed away so that no one would see it; no one knew me enough to recognize what it looked like. “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:32b). What does it look like when you are being sifted? The sifting starts early in life and can be a continuous pattern if the devil feels like his tactics are working against you. I asked a friend recently, “Why am I so emotional? Did God give me these emotions?” I tend to feel deeply because I am an intercessor, but the emotions have to be stewarded properly. You have to master them by submit...

I Forgot About Grace

“He answered me, “My grace is always more than enough for you, and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.” So, I will celebrate my weakness, for when I’m weak I sense more deeply the mighty power of Christ living in me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 TPT) Today I read a devotional, and it reminded me that I forgot about grace. I always say that God is good, but I forget to say that God is graceful. On most days I operate in an autopilot state, and I give out of an empty cup. It’s exhausting to say the least, especially when life seemingly finds a way to knock the joy out of you through hardships. God is not just good, He is graceful. He gives us the grace to stand when our emotions make us want to fall to our knees in submission to defeat. God is graceful, and He covers us when we cry ourselves to sleep in an attempt to keep the truth of our situations hidden from the world. God is graceful! I never understood the ...

Will You Marry Me?

I’m not obsessed, but I’ve been thinking about marriage a lot more lately. As a Christian, I’ve learned where I went wrong concerning my standards of dating before I knew Jesus. I have been looking at the profile pages of exes to see if, perhaps, I was missing something. I’m happy to report that I am not. I more so found myself thanking God for what He didn’t allow. Even though I’m thankful for every failed relationship, I find myself encountering the hurt that still remains as a result of my insecurities. There is so much that I have not let go of. In a way,I’m afraid to let go of the hurt that I am carrying because that vacant spot could potentially attract more pain in its place. I want to trust people, but the fear of them knowing who I intimately am always gets in my way. I so badly desire God and everything that He has for me, but the past is a hinderance. I feel as if I should finally forgive those that misused me, ...

Keep Your Lamp Filled

“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept” (Matthew 25:1–5). Everyone had the same mindset to go to the same place for the same reason. Everyone was on their way, but partial action was taken by five of the virgins. The bridegroom had the capacity to care for all ten. Everyone had a lamp, but everyone did not have oil to see Who they were waiting for. The oil was available, but five virgins did not take the initiative to get more oil. What they had was not enough for the journey they were on. Five of the virgins were wise; they did what was needed to obtain more oil. The other five virgins were foolish, thinking that what they had was enough and that getting...

Take Up Your Cross

God paved the way for my present and my future with the prayers that He placed into my heart many years ago. I didn’t know what new challenges I would have to overcome or what would be required of me as I uttered the sentiments of my heart into His ears. All I knew was that I wanted to serve Him. One my many heart’s desires was to not be a seat filler. I didn’t want to grow content with occupying a seat in the church and never getting out of it to go into all the world to do what God had ordained for me to do in the earth. At that time I didn’t know who God had called me to be and I didn’t understand that some of my prayers was an indication of it. Spoken from a transparent place, as life happened, the more God told me to get up the more I wanted to sit down. Tiredness and fear had gripped me on more occasions than I want to admit and I have had the audacity to whisper, “ get somebody else to do it”, on more than one occasion. I felt justified in what I...

The Process of Faithing It: Trusting Jesus with Your Faith

“Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction” (Mark 5:34 NKJV). Can you imagine Jesus in a crowd? Everyone has a need, but His target in that moment is to go and build the faith of a little girl’s family at the request of her father because they think that she will die. The father is scared, but Jesus was on the way until He felt something. This feeling was different, but powerful. Jesus turns around looking, asking questions, but finds his answer in the form of a woman, standing and looking amazed at what just happened to her. After 13 years of anemia, tiredness, dizzy spells, soiled clothing, and impacted relationships, she is healed. This woman with an issue of blood had spent all of her money, but decided to trust Jesus with her faith, which was all that she had left. Jesus was not too busy to stop and ask, “Who touched me?”. The disciples reminded Jesus of all the people that were around them, but this touch was different. Some...

Heart Inspection: Clean Your House

I remember growing up in a place that required inspections. I used to hate them because I knew that my mom and I would be up all night making sure that the house was clean. I understood that everything had to be just right before the apartment manager came in to make sure that things were how they needed to be, so I got to cleaning. I had two methods of cleaning depending on my mood. I had a lazy way of making everything appear spotless and I had a thorough way of cleaning that I learned from my father and grandmother. When I was in my lazy mood, I just stuffed everything into closets and under the bed because I knew that no one would look there. It produced great results and we passed the inspections. When I cleaned the way that I observed my father cleaning, I would make sure that everything was how it needed to be. I eventually began to dislike things under the bed and I got into the habit of cleaning out my closet. These results also produced great outcomes that I didn’t ha...

Allow God to Make You Great: Perfecting Imperfections

Sometimes the grace that covers your life is the call that God has placed on it. He has invested too much into you to allow you to die in your sin. We are like a treasure chest to God. Some people may look at us and think that we are worthless, but the value of who God says we are is locked up on the inside of us awaiting the season to be revealed. None of us know who we are until God speaks. We don’t know our purpose or even why we look the way that we do. God is strategic and protective. He can’t reveal the totality of the plan that he has for your life because you may try to either abort your mission or go on a voyage that He has not called you to go on. The grace of God is that he can turn our mistakes into blessings and He can use our season of disobedience as teachable points to warn others about what not to do. God specializes in fools, the forgotten, and outcasts. He gives His wisdom to those who people deem unworthy to have it and He transforms lives through brokenness. ...

I have Chosen You: Distractions and Distress are not Your Portion

“You did not choose me, but I choose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you.” (John 15:16 ESV). At the church that I attend, the stage/ alter has steps that one can ascend on to reach the top. As I looked at the steps, I envisioned what God is doing in this season. I saw a representative on the floor before the steps began , and I saw them moving up one step at a time. We are in a season of elevation and with elevation comes great responsibility. As I consider the prayers that I have prayed and the questions that I have asked God , I see the answers all around me, but inwardly I have rejected the responsibility that comes ...

JaNina B.

Search This Blog

Dad