FATHER’S DAY
Do you feel fatherless? Holidays have the potential to make us so sad don’t they? How is this coming Sunday different than this Friday? How is it that a mere date on the calendar can cause us to be so excited (like a birthday or anniversary) or to be so sad as we consider what we are not or what we don’t have? I want to invite you to go on strike with me to that kind of thinking.
For one let me just say that if you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior you have been adopted by God! You have a Heavenly Father who loves you so much that He sent His one and only son to die for you so that you would not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Secondly, I have to tell you that the entire reason I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior at 14-years-old was because Crystal Taylor of Montesano, WA, told me that I could have a Heavenly Father! I want you to know that you can too!
At 14-years-old, I was told that my earthly father, Donald Fritz Sias, died of a heart-attack in the snow in Alaska. I became hopeless because my older brother, Shawn, and I planned on escaping from our abusive alcohol and drug-addicted step-fathers our entire lives to go find our real dad in Alaska. When I found out he died my hopes of getting rescued died too. I was contemplating how I would kill myself when a kind stranger in a new strange small town asked me if I wanted to be saved.
“From what?!” I asked. I thought for sure her parents were drug-dealers in hiding and a bust was about to go down. I started scanning the room for escape routes. My heart was beating almost louder than her words. Crystal began to explain how I was a sinner separated from God and that God sent His son to pay the penalty for my sins (I didn’t even know what a ‘sin’ was). She told me I could be adopted into God’s family and I could have a Heavenly Father. I immediately accepted Christ! I had been waiting my entire life to be saved by my earthly father. He never completed the rescue mission. He couldn’t. He had his own struggles and he needed a savior too. But God could and did complete the rescue mission. God is a Father who never leaves, forsakes or abandons. He is continually calling us by name inviting us into relationship with Him.
I encourage you to seek God today – this Father’s day weekend. Do something out of the box and buy God a Father’s Day card. Pour God a cup of coffee and talk with Him extra long this Sunday. He won’t mind if you drink His cup. In fact, He desires that you would drink from His cup of living water anyway. Make a special dinner for someone and praise God aloud before the meal. Praise Him that He is your Heavenly Father. Give God honor by loving someone this weekend, whether it is your earthly father who is still alive, or if it is your husband who is a loving father to your children. Maybe there is a neighbor man who does not have a family. Maybe you could serve him in love and simultaneously give honor to God.
Maybe you simply need to send a copy of this book with a bookmark in this chapter to someone who is often sad on Father’s Day weekend. Remind them that they have a Heavenly Father who awaits to embrace them with His love.
Happy Father’s Dad, God!
May You get the glory in all we think, do, and say.
Thank You for the Rescue mission you successfully completed through Christ!
I continually praise You in my spirit with each breath!
Love,
Kristina
Kristina Seymour loves to encourage and equip women through the Word and through community. She is the author of The Warrior Mom Handbook, The Warrior Mom Leadership Manual, and The Warrior Wife Handbook; they are available at Amazon.com. Kristina's Bible studies are for women who desire to live by faith in the midst of their everyday lives. She has learned that women can't survive on caffeine and animal crackers alone; women in the Word and in community are united and able to stand firm. To learn more about Kristina, please visit her recently founded Share & Company Publishing House http://seymourkristina.wix.