Who's Your Daddy?

        I know Father’s Day is a few months away, but for today’s post I wanted to write about the man we grow up calling, “Dad.”
        For some, a father is a man that walked out. For others, it’s a person busy making a living for his family. Yet for others, a father is one of the most influential people in their lives.

My dad.

          After high school, I decided to go to college about 800 miles away from home. Texas A&M University. While my dad was adamant about me going to Mizzou (which was only two hours from home), he supported my decision and on August 22, 2010 he dropped his first-born daughter, daddy’s little girl, off at her dorm and said goodbye. In the midst of his busy schedule, my dad always managed to find time to send me a, “Goodnight, I love you,” text right before bed. Not just once a week. Or every so often. But EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT.   When I didn’t make good grades. When I disappointed him. When I forgot to tell him happy birthday.  I still managed get a “Goodnight, I love you” text right before I fell asleep. To this day, I don’t think my dad has missed a single night.
            My dad didn’t wait for me to make a good grade on an exam to send me a text. He didn’t expect anything in return. Even when I made a mistake, he still made sure I knew that he loved me. That his love would never stop.
            Apostle Paul writes in Romans,
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
             My dad is the epitome of a father. And through him, I am able to catch a glimpse of what my heavenly father is like. No matter how many times I disappoint him, I know my dad still loves me. At times when all I wanted was a 'yes,' my dad would say 'no.' Not because he didn’t love me, but because through saying 'no,' he was teaching me discipline. He was making me a better person.
             These things, and more, have shown me what it means that God is my father. And that He is yours. God’s love is unconditional, regardless of the gravity of our mistakes. He has a purpose behind every ‘no’ or ‘wait.’ He is not out to get us.

He is there for me.
And He is there for YOU.

Through my father, I see a glimpse of God’s love. A love that is complete. Eternal. Perfect.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
            This is the love of Christ. This is the love your heavenly Father wants to share with you. The question is, do you believe it?
            Do you believe that God is for you? That he loves you unconditionally? That no matter what you do to disappoint Him or no matter how far you stray, His love is deeper? Do you believe that his ‘no’ or ‘wait’ is actually an expression of love?
            Today, I am grateful for my dad. Who’s “Goodnight, I love you” texts every night emulate the love God has me. And I am grateful to my heavenly Father for His unending, unconditional, love and for blessing me with a pretty awesome

 DAD.









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe.

Image
Christmas is officially here. The season where families are reunited. Friends are gathered together. And Santa’s Elves on Shelves are hard at work keeping kids in check.  But Christmas is also a season that digs up our secret hurts. The couple whose marriage was broken will spend their first Christmas apart. The parents who lost their newborn baby will carefully tuck away the “Baby’s first Christmas” ornament. And the child in an orphanage will only read of Christmas through books.  The truth is, Christmas can hurt.  And recently I have struggled with this.  Struggled with seeing all my friends post their Christmas dates or family Christmas pictures and wondering when my time is. Wondering why I don’t have that.  Yes I am only 23. Yes this past year I went half way across the world on a mission trip to the Philippines that changed my life. Yes I started my own company all by myself this past fall. And yes I am blessed with an amazing family whose parents have been mar
Read more

Just Keep Swimming

Image
“Go Lawrence, go!” we yelled from our wooden raft docked in the lake. My little brother has been trying to learn how to swim and somehow always manages to sink to the bottom. Yesterday, he dove under the water and swam all the way from the safety of the shore to our raft in the middle of the lake. As I watched him struggle to stay afloat, arms flailing side to side, I thought about how scared he must have been at that moment. His little legs could no longer reach the safety of the sand under his toes. His lungs gasping for as much air as possible. Each stroke was moving him closer and closer to the safety of the raft. As we were yelling for Lawrence to “just swim” to us. I thought back on how much courage that must have taken him. It seems like such an easy task to most of us, but learning how to swim is probably one of the scariest development challenges. Lawrence had to not only trust in his abilities, but he also had to trust that his family waiting for him on the raft would
Read more

Overcomer.

Image
Happy Resurrection Day! It is crazy to think how fast time is flying. It feels like it was just yesterday I was sitting in freshman orientation, and now here I am, three weeks away from calling myself a Texas A&M GRADUATE . To start off, I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to read my blog. I was overwhelmed last month by the amount of support I received from family, friends, and even strangers. Your messages and comments have meant more to me than you’ll ever know. To top it off, my blog reached 4,000 views and the numbers keep climbing! This past month I have seen God work in ways I never thought possible. During one of the hardest times of my life, I chose to let God get between me and my storm. I chose to keep holding His hand through each day and trusting His plan. As much as I would like to say He took the storm away, He didn’t. But He did use the storm to change me. And He used the storm for my testimony. Today is Easter. The cross is a symbol o
Read more