Safe in the Father's Arms

One of the highlights of the current season of life that I'm in has been seeing my daughter become more and more familiar with our friends. She is beginning to remember and recognize them. I love watching her interact with them. She is slowing becoming more and more comfortable about being around them. There are still times where she will often look to make sure my wife or I are nearby because we are her security. As long as she can see us, she feels safe. 

I've been a father for a whole 21 months now and this journey of fatherhood has been one of growth, learning, challenge and of course great joy. My continued prayer is that the Holy Spirit would help me be a good father that accurately reflects the heart of God to my daughter. To me this means making sure I instill within her a deep sense of security that I will always be there for her and that she can count on me to be there when she is in need. For me, this is a foundational truth about God, that He is always faithful. 

If I can get this right now, when my daughter gets older and begins her own relationship with God, the better the chances are that it will be a healthy one. Too often, what happens if a person grows up in a home with an absent father or a harsh or abusive one, when they begin a relationship with God, they believe that God is absent or harsh, even abusive. A father's role in a person's life has great impact on their understanding of what God is like and in turn this affects how they interact with Him. 

In reflecting on my walk with God, there have been many seasons He has brought me through, but if I step back and survey the last 15 years of walking with Him what I see is a unique Trinitarian journey of first encountering and experiencing the Holy Spirit (first 5 years) and then walking with Jesus through the Word of God and joining Him on His mission (last 10 years) and now I feel I am coming into a season of knowing and experiencing the Father (present). But, all through these last 15 years, if there is one thing that I've been growing in understanding and embracing is that God is faithful. He will never leave me, nor forsake me. He is my helper (Hebrews 13:5-6). I am safe with Him and I pray that I can model this kind of safety for my daughter.