Starting with PT, God has totally been inviting me to be His daughter. There were so many times in Ecuador when I could hear Him teaching me lessons about being a child, specifically His child. If you know me well, you know that my relationship with my dad is really complicated and difficult for a variety of reasons. In the midst of that, God has been way intentional in healing parts of my heart as they were ready to receive it. This is definitely a season of more - Learning to see Him as Father is making me an even better daughter. I didn't sign up for this, nor did expect it, but I feel like this season is equipping me to be a better wife, an amazing parent someday, and an even more enthusiastic lover of life.
This is the kind of relationship and the kind of Father I am discovering:
- Little girls who have a healthy relationship with their dads are confident and humble - they know where they stand with their dad; they know they are wanted and loved and do not have to pursue attention elsewhere.
- Women who have a healthy relationship with their dads are interdependent - They are able to do things on their own, but still depend on their dads for love and support.
- Fathers balance the invitation of unconditional love and acceptance and the challenge of pushing their daughters to reach their greatest potential.
- Great dads balance giving their daughters what they need and want and teaching their daughters to to access those things on their own.
- They fight. In they end, they both feel heard, understood, and loved.
- Good dads know what they are talking about and give solid advice to their daughters who, in turn, receive and apply it.
- Daughters obey their fathers not because they have to, but because they want to out of respect and appreciation for his authority.
- Little girls whose dads can do anything and give them everything are completely fearless.
- Dads don't let their daughters go hungry, naked, or unsheltered. They will do anything to protect them, make every sacrifice necessary to provide.
- They spend quality time together. Time marked by delighting in each other and becoming closer.
What I have been learning is that I cannot get closer to God, my Father, without letting Him free me from the resentments I hold towards my earthly dad. It's simply impossible. Painful. Wonderful. Humbling. The more I see that He loves me, the more I can admit that I am wrong when I have overstepped my bounds. The more I understand about the reoccurring miracles that came from His sacrifice, the more I feel convicted to forgive things that once seemed irreparable. For everything that I lack from my dad, my Father gives to me a hundred fold. I have watched Him provide for me over and over again. I have felt His comforting embrace time and time again. I have been challenged by His sweetness and selflessness more times than I can count.
This is only the start of all of this. Love.
