Unabandoned

I don’t know why a revelation of this message came to me today, but I decided it is appropriate with Father’s Day coming this weekend.

The day that I started chemo was 1 month after the day that my father had passed away. We were in the car driving to my first chemo appointment and I began sobbing uncontrollably. I was overwhelmed at everything about the process I was about to go through. It just hit me really hard. Stan asked me what was the matter, and I replied “My father has abandoned me. He’s not here for me when I need him the most. He’s always been here for me.”

In my mind, I saw my father as someone who would encourage and support me, and I would get through even the worst things in life as long as I knew he was behind me. I connected the difficult things in life that I went through as being connected to my father‘s love for me and his presence.The fact that he left me when he died caused me to doubt I could get through this next difficult season. That was the identity of my earthly father to me-somebody who was there when I needed him and he loved me.

Our Heavenly Father is much the same but even so much MORE than that. His love and presence is so much more. He is NOT just connected to what I will go through in life. He’s not the one I go to only when I have a need. I go to Him daily. He is my Father. He loves me always. He is there even when I don’t acknowledge it. He loves me no matter what. He loved me from before I was born. “We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 Nothing I go through can change that. “The steadfast love on the Lord never ceases.” I have my earthly father and my Heavenly Father. Do I truly understand the differences in their identities? Do I really know and understand who God is?? My earthly father was good but my Heavenly Father is a good, good, good Father! He’s the best!

In Luke 11:11-14 Jesus talks about the perfect father. If imperfect fathers take care of their children and give them what they need and are present for their children, how much more will our perfect Heavenly Father give us when we ask Him?? If my earthly father had meant so much to me, now that he was gone; how much more would my Heavenly Father mean to me? My circumstances left me without an earthly father but NOTHING can take my Heavenly Father away from me.

I knew I was spending time trying to figure out how much it was going to cost me to go through what I was about to go through with chemo and radiation treatments. Again, if I thought my earthly father could do that much good and would be there for me, I can only imagine how much my more my perfect, Heavenly Father could do for me.

Sometimes we feel like God has abandoned us when we need Him most. If you’re going through something difficult and you feel alone, don’t say you can’t do it because you’re alone and because of who you are. Say you can because of who is with you. Whether you have, or had a father who was there for you or not there, don’t say you can’t do things because you DO have a Father who is ALWAYS with you. “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Know your Heavenly Father’s identity is greater than any earthly father’s identity.

Your Heavenly Father is always with you. Invite Him, your Father, to walk through the difficult seasons in your life with you. Who God is won’t change just because we have to go through something difficult that we don’t want to go through. God doesn’t change even if my circumstances and reality does. God is on our Father. He will never leave us or forsake us. He will never abandon us.

Even Jesus on the cross thought His father had forsaken Him. “ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me ?” Matt. 27:46 Jesus wasn’t questioning God. He was expressing his deep anguish that there would be a period of him being separated from God, his Father. We, too, can have deep anguish being separated from our father. Even when life seemed overwhelming, Jesus knew God had not really forsaken Him. God has not forsaken us either even if it feels like it. “The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid do not be discouraged.” Your Father is with you.