In a world full of broken relationships and broken marriages, how many times do we stop and think about the importance of a father? The most important father being, God the Father.
Growing up in the Midwest, I grew up seeing the importance of a father in others’ lives. But I did not have a steady father figure in my own life, outside of God the Father. Sometimes I stop and wonder about what we can do today to fix our relationship with God the Father.
Other times, I pray and I feel God would say, “There needs to be more of my hand on today’s society; the problem is that many people do not allow my hands to touch them and the areas of their lives that I would like to heal.”
Friends, what area in your life do you need the hands of a father?
I know God is willing to reach into all areas of your lives. For if you look closely enough, you can see His footprints on everything. Why is it so hard to see His handprints? Maybe, it is because many times we do not let His loving grasp leave an impact on our innermost beings.
Rest assured, this often takes longer than most are willing to sacrifice in today’s society, which prides itself on what can be done the quickest.
The question is this: If you see footprints are they footprints from God chasing you? Or are they yours from chasing Him?
Whatever the case, the loving hands of the Father are always there. Just reach out to Him. Whether they be hands that correct or lift up, trust that hands of the Father are always loving, gentle, and kind.
And, if God the father has been chasing you for a long time, turn around and finally allow His embrace to hold you and comfort you in your time of need.
Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we can have this type of relationship with God the Father. He is all about restoring our relationship with Him, being our Heavenly Father readily available to His children.
I promise you that if you allow God into your life, your life will never be the same in the best ways possible.
Beautifully Broken
What does it mean to be beautifully broken? For me, most of my life I considered brokenness my enemy. Through my deepening relationship with God, and many seasons of refinement, I have realized that it is a necessity so one can be used by God. For only in brokenness can one seek God when looking for an answer for the emptiness or deep pain that torments the soul.
In this seeking, they find a loving Father that is all that anyone could ever hope for. A Father that is all about washing away the pain that brokenness causes, and replacing it with a beauty that surpasses all human understanding. A beauty that also shines out for all to see. A beauty only found in those who have faith in Jesus.
Years ago, I remember listening to the song “Beauty for Ashes.” At this point in my life, I had endured much hardship. I remember thinking, How could God make something beautiful out of the brokenness of my life?
Through this hardship, which was a childhood separation from my biological parents, I found the one true Father. The only Father, Jesus Christ, who would ultimately turn my old life, left in ashes, to a new life, covered with beauty—a life that in the end that I would consider beautifully broken.
For Jesus comes to “heal the brokenhearted, and to set the captives free.” And, my life has never been the same. Yours will never be the same, too, when you yield to Him and give Him the brokenness. All we have to do is to let Him do His work and trust the journey that He has for all of us.
Whatever any of you are going through, whether that be hardship or trials, trust Jesus with everything. He will never let you down. Even when the world seems overwhelming. For in the brokenness of all our lives, there is great beauty. Beauty that is only found in a testimony with Jesus’ footprints all over it.