“I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”  2 Corinthians 6:18

My mom died a few weeks ago. As she enjoyed extremely close, attentive and loving relationships with her family for 90 plus happy years here on earth and died suddenly with little pain, I consider her end to be about as good as a death can be.  To make it even sweeter, my mom knew where she was going. But it wasn’t always that way.  Mom had a fondness for the Holy Spirit and respect for Jesus. However, a disappointing relationship with her biological Father (and an even more menacing Father-in-Law) led to serious confusion and conflict about what a gentle and loving Abba Father looks like.  For most of her life, Mom didn’t want to have much to do with God the Father.

How great is the love the father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!  1 John 3:1

For so many women who have struggled with not-up-to-par earthly fathers, the concept of a loving, generous, kind father is so hard to accept!  Relationships with far from perfect earthly fathers can create such a barrier to intimately knowing and trusting their Avi, their Heavenly Father.

God‘s timing in my mother’s passing was perfect; He did not take her home until giving her peace with her earthly father just a few weeks prior. By the time she died, God had resolved many of the painful memories in her life. She had learned to forgive and let go of much bitterness toward her earthly father and her Father-in-Law.

Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. Ephesians 1:4–5

OUR FATHER 

How extraordinary it is, that the creator of the universe “gave us the right to become children of God!” John 1:12  That His adoption of us actually gives Him pleasure!  Who are we that the King of Kings should delight in a relationship with us?

God gave me a special gift for the last four or five years of Mom’s life.  When she moved into a care facility, our daily phone conversations became just a wee bit predictable and stilted.  I could never ask her “So, what did you do today?” because the poor dear did absolutely nothing all day! Especially during Covid when she was not even allowed to leave her apartment.  “What did you have for lunch?” was not exactly enthralling conversation fodder.   Eventually, the Holy Spirit prompted me to ask Mom if it would be OK to read a daily devotion during our phone calls.

At first, she would say “that’s enough!“ whenever our discussions stemming from the devotion hit too close to home. She did not want to talk about forgiveness.  Instead, she felt justified in her anger toward her father.  She didn’t see the need for healing.  But gradually, she came to love listening to those devotions and was disappointed if I missed a day.  What power in God’s word! What transforming, restorative power that can heal decades of misconceptions about who our true Father is! Thank you, God, for your gift of personal parenting.

“Father is the name that sets Christianity apart from all the other religions of the world…Christ came so that we could meet his Father and be adopted into His Family.”  Mary Kassian