Word of the Week - Father
“And I will be a Father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6:18
How powerful is the role of a Father? Research confirms that a good Father/child relationship is key in the healthy development of children and young adults. Even more sobering is the fact that the Father relationship has the power to shape our view of God and ourselves at the deepest level. A Father has many critical roles in a child’s life to include provider, protector, teacher, modeler, encourager, exemplar and much, much more. These are all very important roles to meet the very real needs of a child, growing adolescent and young adult. As important as all these characteristics are to the development of a child, what matters most is that the child experience and know the unconditional love of the Father. Love is the trump card, because “love overcomes a multitude of sins” 1 Peter 4:8. I am blessed with a wonderful dad who demonstrated the characteristics noted above throughout my childhood and life, but like all of us he was not perfect and did some things that wounded me along the way. That being said, I never ever doubted his deep and unconditional love for me. This reality along with Jesus’ healing hand has been the catalyst for healing in our relationship and most importantly receiving and knowing the love of God the Father. Now as a Father of 3 wonderful daughters and 4 awesome Grandkids (it is true that Grandkids are a true blessing from God, this is the best ever😊), I have the amazing responsibility and privilege to be a Father to my children and grandchildren and I can say it is the most meaningful, joyful and fulfilling role of my life. Just like my dad, I am doing my very best but I surely have made many mistakes along the way and unintentionally hurt my children. That being said, I am so grateful to God our Father in Heaven who gives us the perfect example of how to be a loving Father, our Abba Father. “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast (unconditional) love” Psalm 103:8. With this love and example from God our Father through His son Jesus along with great examples from our parents and others, we are equipped to be godly Fathers who sow blessings and life into our kids for many generations to come as stated in Psalm 127:3 “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him.”I am beginning my journey home today from Rwanda, Africa where I had the opportunity to spend the past week with my youngest daughter Isabella along with a friend of mind Ronald Fremin and his daughter Anna Katherine. We had an amazing time visiting this beautiful country in East Africa (see a few pics attached). We spent time encouraging, mentoring and celebrating with the young leaders in the country though our involvement in Bridge2Rwanda https://www.bridge2rwanda.org/ , and we also had the awesome privilege to spend time serving some of the poorest kids in Rwanda through Acts4Rwanda https://acts4rwanda.org/, and friends of Tom Allan at the community library pre-school in Sunzu Village. Once again, God showed up in an amazing way and blessed me and Isabella beyond measure as we grew closer to God, the children and leaders of Rwanda, our friends and each other. I also continued to learn and grow as a Father and Grandfather. What a joy and blessing it is for me to share in this experiences with my daughter and see her stretch and grow as a young woman of God, it was truly awesome. Our time in Rwanda has blessed me and my family immensely and I would highly recommend taking a mission trip with your kids somewhere in the world that is 3rd world, there are lots of options. If you have any interest in making a trip to Rwanda or Haiti, I have plenty of connections and can help you. Experiences like this are really powerful for any dad who wants to grow closer to God his son or daughter and become a better Father. “And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers” Malachi 4:6.Finally, no matter what your situation and relationship or lack thereof with your earthly Father, God is our eternal Father and He loves you and deeply desires to redeem and restore you to wholeness through the power of His unconditional and everlasting love. This is available for all His children (us), through the Lord Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. Our Abba Father God is a Good, Good, Father…..He will gladly leave the 99 to find the one lost sheep, that is how much He loves us….Happy Father’s Day…..[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="5" gal_title="Fathers Day 2019"]-Duane