For the last couple of months, my Daddy and I have been planning a cruise together. We both love Alaska and hope to enjoy a trip there this summer. That term “Daddy” is so rich with meaning and it has powerful implications for the Child of God.

A pastor’s wife in our area recently wrote about the experience of knowing God as our Father. Her husband has been significantly ill and the journey has been excruciating for the entire family. But one day, she wrote some amazing words and they struck such a cord in my soul, I wanted to pass them along.

I believe the setting is one of the days when they thought they were going to loose their father. The children were brought into the hospital and you can imagine the pain of the moment.

But she wrote: “Child of God. Oh how I long for every person in the world to know this. We are His. God so desperately loves us…

Today my children saw their daddy. They very quickly have come to understand what faith really is. There is nothing that we can do to fix him. We have become dependent on our maker. Beautiful.

This may have been one of the hardest days to watch my children face the reality of life and death with their protector, their provider, their friend, their coach, their leader, their daddy. So hard.

As it was one of the most difficult, they also were brought to a place there they had to lean on their God. They began to understand that they also have a Daddy in heaven. This Daddy will also lead them, hold them, coach them, provide for them, be their friend. The faith of a child can do a multitude of things. This whole ugly (thing) has given my kids a gift that many take a lifetime to understand.”

Powerful words. Hopefully we can grasp the meaning.

This week is a wonderful time to stop and consider that God wants to be our father, our Daddy in every sense of that term. If finances are constrained, remember He is our provider. If heartache abounds, remember He wants to hold us tenderly. If challenges are on every hand, remember He will walk with us every step of the way.

Consider: “…the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry ABBA (Daddy), Father.” Romans 8:15

By the by, the pastor has received a transplant and all are prayerful and hopeful for his healing.