He is the Father to the Fatherless by Michelle D. Howe

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I love singing.  I especially love singing worship music.  This past Sunday, our choir did a whole service of worship songs and I am always so moved by the Spirit.  Between the music and the testimonies, I can’t help but cry.  Recently, my friend gave me a signed copy of Casting Crowns new CD, Come to the Well.

Since iPods and MP3 players came out, I don’t tend to buy the hard CD cases anymore.  I usually just purchases them on iTunes, therefore I don’t read all the words or the thank yous in the cover sheets.  But, something inside of me grabbed this CD case and took out the cover and began to listen in my car.  Song after song I enjoyed reading the words (at stop lights of course) and reading the background on each song along with the bible verses.

Wake Up Call!!

The one song that just got me, I mean really went straight to my heart was the song “Just Another Birthday.”  Mark Hall and his wife of Casting Crowns are youth pastors at their church and they wrote this song to the hundreds of girls they have seen come through their student ministry over the years.  He says, “this song is a wake-up call to fathers to love their daughters and a message of hope to orphans, spiritual and physical, that God is the Father to the fatherless.”

The song was incredible on its own but it took on a whole new life when I watched in on YouTube.  Watch for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=-Tu6NQ4L01w&feature=endscreen

Lately, it seems as though this is the case for so many girls and it breaks my heart.  Between my friends, church family and my daughters friends, I just see to many young girls without their Daddies around and in some cases their Mommies too.  I am thankful for my Dad that was around and present in my life when I was growing up.  I know this relationship shaped me into the woman I am today.  I tell my husband often how important his role as our girls Daddy is to them.  They base their self-worth and their future husband on their experience with him.

If Not Daddy, Then Who?

Recently, Aubrey and I did the passport to purity weekend.  During the weekend, I asked her to describe her future husband.  Well, she pretty much described her Daddy.  So what does a girl do that doesn’t have a Dad in her life or another positive male role model.

Who does she base her future husband on?

Who decides her self-worth?

Who comforts her in the dark?

Who tells her I am proud of you?

As the song mentions, the girl goes looking for love somewhere else.  Something else to fill those needs.  Something else to tell her she is special and loved.  Not the way God designed it to be for sure.

My Prayer

My girls are 10 and 12 right now.  They are becoming more and more independent but I know that this is no time to be away from home to long.  Their characters are beginning built and their little hearts are taking in everything that is going on around them.

My hope is that my girls will know how God feels about them, see them and loves them by the way their Daddy treats them, not how the world does. I pray for all the girls that don’t have an active relationships with their fathers or a healthy one to discover the Father to the Fatherless.  I pray for healthy men in churches to get involved in youth ministry so to be an example to these young girls.

Ultimately, Fathers will not be perfect, they will fail, they will be say the wrong thing but God does not and never will.  The One that will never leave us or forsake us is our Heavenly Father.  Let’s all start learning more about what He says about His daugthers then go and share with a young girl in your life.  Might sound something like this, “Did you know that God says you are worth more than gold!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz5lVjzJkjI  Love me some Britt Nicole “Gold”

What is your experience with your Dad?  How did it shape you?

Please comment then share!!  Thanks, Michelle :-)

  • Casi

    Lori and I are so blessed to have the Daddy we have. Even though he was out a lot with people in the church, he was very much a part of our lives. I’m also so incredibly grateful for Lyla’s Daddy and how he is already the light of her life. She will no doubt know how important her relationship with her Heavenly Father is as she comes to that age of understanding. Thanks for a great post, Michelle!

    • http://iwokeupyesterday.com iwokeupyesterday

      Thanks Casi for commenting. So thankful for your Dad and the example he has been to many men in our community. Also, thank you to Norm for being a light in the middle schools. Pray for him often.

  • Cathie

    Praise God I have my Abba Father Gal 4:7

    • http://iwokeupyesterday.com iwokeupyesterday

      Cathie, you are a living testimony of the restoring power of our Heavenly Father. Your healing makes it possible for others to see it for themselves through a relationship with Jesus. Thanks sister!! love you, Michelle

  • Lisa Scacco

    Not until I was an adult did I realize what an impact it was not having a father around while growing up. I still have a very distant relationship with him. I’ve learned he is not capable. I’ve learned not to count on him. I’ve learned he will dissapoint me, no matter how low I set my expectation, because there still is an expectaion. Not until I found the love of my heavenly Father did all of this become clear. And it is becuse of Him I am able to accept who he is and forgive him for not being there in my life and my children’s lives. Father’s don’t realize their importance in girls and boys lives. They are different roles, but very much needed.