“You may be without a father, but you are not fatherless.”
These words washed over me as I sat on my bed weeping over the physical loss of my biological father. I was shocked by the grief that consumed me– this man had not been part of my life for almost 20 years. I thought I had made peace with all the emotional effects that the absence of a father/daughter relationship had on me.
But the truth is that when something is broken in the sacred relationship between a father and a daughter, the wounds are deep and the way we see life is greatly altered.
The deep feeling of loss associated with this broken relationship is because of the intentional design God had for this relationship. When God created us in our mother’s womb, He desired for us to understand the love of God, our Heavenly Father, through our earthly fathers. He desired for us to see that a father is a protector, teacher, comforter, disciplinarian, that his love is unconditional.
Unfortunately, sin broke this perfect relationship and what we experience now is not what God originally intended for us. This broken earthly father/daughter relationship that was once intended to reflect the heart of our Heavenly Father is now distorting it.
But this reality doesn’t change what is true about our Heavenly Father. The relationship that we can have with God, through Jesus, can never be broken. It can never be severed. He is the perfect protector, teacher, comforter, disciplinarian, and provider of unconditional love. He alone can be all things to us and for us. Even if your father was a good example, it is nothing compared to the perfect love of Father God.
Friends, you may be carrying the hurt of a broken father/daughter relationship, and I understand the depths of pain that can create. May I speak over you the same words that the Holy Spirit whispered to me that day on the edge of my bed—”You may be without a father, but you are not fatherless.” (Read that again out loud.) When we acknowledge our desperate need for Jesus, God will respond and offer all of Himself to us through the Holy Spirit.
He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. He will never give up on you.
The beautiful truth of who God the Father is will bring freedom to the parts of you still desperately seeking the love of an earthly father. I never got the earthly father I wanted or needed, but every moment of every day I get to receive from my Heavenly Father. This kind of relationship is available to everyone.
If you want to know more about this freedom that can come through a relationship with Jesus, please reach out to us. There are women and men at Align that would love to talk with you more about who Jesus is and how He can lead you into a real, loving relationship with your perfect Heavenly Father.