Father's Day Reflection

I am so thankful to God for the blessing of opening another door to preach his glorious gospel for such a time as this on Father's Day. The Lord gave me a particularly special message to preach, a unique message on behalf of the million of children in the United States that have grown up without the consistent presence of their biological fathers. We often hear about the negative implications young men suffer as a result of their absentee dads, but on yesterday, the Lord used me to proclaim a father's day message from the daughter's perspective. Before I stood up to preach, Pastor A Craig Dunn of First Baptist Church in Madison, leaned over and said, "Lil Sis, by the Spirit in here, God is getting ready to bless this house this morning; yokes are going to broken, hearts are going to be healed........"

Older women, middle-aged women, and young women following the message expressed gratitude to God for delivering this message. To my surprise, out there in the midst of the congregation were women from all walks of life that haven't seen or heard from their biological fathers in 15, 20 something years including myself that have lived without the consistent presence of their father's protection, his help to develop a healthy self-esteem in the lives of their daughters and how to establish healthy boundaries in relationships with person's of the opposite sex. The fathers present thanked me for reinforcing how important their presence and constant involvement in their daughters' lives are not in vain.

I also made an admission of guilt for half-heartedly forgiving my very own biological dad who I sent a father's dad card to for the first time in almost twenty years. Following the service, I placed a call to my dad. He sincerely apologized for all the times he walked out of our lives. He apologized for all the special moments he missed out on. He admitted that if his children chose to never speak to him ever again, he would understand but I had to be honest and apologize for not being sincere with my apology. The Lord helped me to recognize that if the forgiveness we offer others is not sincere and genuine, we allow anger, resentment, and hurt to fester and overtake us. Instead of trying to do the "Christian" thing, God wanted me to own what I felt and be willing to be set free and delivered because truth be told, the same grace God had extended to me, especially now as a minister of reconciliation, I owed nothing more to my father but to love him, to sincerely forgive him and to extend the same grace toward my dad.

Although I have experienced many bitter-sweet Father Days in the past, this by far will go down in history as one of the best because God has performed an extraordinary work in both the hearers on yesterday as well as in my very own heart!