Encourage Your Dad

I have been thinking a lot about my Dad lately and missing him so much. Recently I looked back over his life and wondered how he managed… his childhood was so difficult, abused and betrayed and let down by the ppl who should have loved him the most, culminating in a life at BOYS TOWN children’s orphanage at the age of 12. He lived there until he was 17, at which point he lied about his age to join the military. A lot happened in his life, he lived with a lot of pain up to his passing from cancer in 2001.. and I wondered why God didn’t intervene at some point, why he never had anyone to love him and watch his back and be there for him to lean on.. and it broke my heart to remember how sad he was most of the time.. but then as I wondered about it all before God.. he seemed to whisper to me..

“that’s why I gave him the four of you..
that’s why I gave him you…”

And I wondered at that as well.. how had I ever been there for my dad.. I had so much I regretted.. so much I wished had been different.. so many opportunities I missed just to bless him and love on him and let him know that he wasn’t alone in the world.. and then just as gently.. the Lord flashed several memories before me of moments when I did get to be there for him.. the Father’s Day card I got him with a letter I wrote thanking him for so many positive things he taught me, the one that made him cry.. the time an asthma attack almost killed him in the ER and I stood there for hours watching thru the window of the ER door crying and praying for him.. so many other moments I had forgotten.. God lovingly brought back to me.. and I realized so clearly that God had not abandoned my father in this life.. but that he was with him all the time.. and that he had sent us to watch over him and to love him in those key moments that mattered most.. we were God’s hands and feet and voice in the darkest moments of my father’s life without even realizing it.

I know parents can be harsh.. I had some and I am one.. but Father’s Day is coming and for some reason I think maybe Dad’s need some extra encouragement this year. So go out of your way, not to just make the day special.. but to make some changes in your perspective of your father and in the way you treat him or act toward him. Ask God for ways to bless him and to be there for him.. Encourage him in ways that matter to him rather than to you, how he sees things, to let him know that you get him.. and that you care about him.. let him know that he matters, that he’s important, that he has affected your life in positive ways, that you’re proud of him and to called his kid.. and that you love him for him.

Idk..

Ask God to show you what will encourage your dad, as the unique and amazing person God created him to be. Love him so that he feels loved, and so that he knows that he has incredible worth and value.. that you were listening when he thought you weren’t.. that you appreciate what he has taught you and done for you. Be Jesus.. encourage your dad <3