Can Moms And Dads Learn To Be Sons?

My world was disrupted a few years ago when I joined a new church fellowship and heard the pastor and others speak about God the Father as ‘Daddy God’. I was offended with the seemingly casualness of their relationship with the Father. My pastor described how he used to climb into bed with his toddler daughter, and she would have to fall asleep with him face to face, but she always wanted her mommy. The story unfolded as one night his daughter looked him in the face, clutching his hair and said “Daddy, I choose you.”   

Although this story offended my mind, I would weep with the pursuit of this daddy for the heart of his beloved daughter. My dad had never pursued me; he was an alcoholic and abused my mom. My ex-husband never pursued my children. There was a little girl inside of me created to be relentless pursued by Daddy God and He offended my mind to reveal my heart.

I thought I had ‘gotten it’. I had raised 4 children to KNOW the voice of the Father, imparting a love for the Father, turning and asking advice from the Father. But as I reflected on this Daddy’s Delightful heart, and relentless pursuit; I knew I had missed a very key component of who God was and He wanted to take me on a journey.

I had been down a similar path before, many times. But the most profound was when I went through my divorce and God began to speak to me about being my Husband. Again, great offense was taken as He highlighted scripture passages about being my Husband. I reluctantly said yes to His invitation and went on the most incredible journey of restoration and hope as bit by bit He broke through the hard, broken pieces of my shattered heart. He not only restored my heart, He built a solid foundation from which I will forever live my life on…a foundation of LOVE.  

 

The adventure into sonship has been no different. Apparently, from Heaven’s perspective, there was a gaping hole in my life called “who are you as beloved daughter?” And as the Holy Spirit highlighted this by showing me the offense in my heart, I determined to jump into the river of His Delight, and discover yet another deep truth of Abba’s love.

As I reflect on these adventures, I realize that the Lord lovingly takes me through similar steps to reveal His heart to me, and root me and ground me in the knowledge of His love.

·        I realize a void in my life. Maybe I am in continual crisis and I need Him as my Shalom. When I was fighting in court for custody of my children I needed Him to show Himself as the Righteous Judge. Over and over, the spaces in my life are invitations for the Lord to make His name known.

·        I begin to explore His attributes. I might do a word search on Provider, or Judge. Or as in the case with Jesus as the Bridegroom, I spent 4 years of my life studying, prayer journaling, and meditating on a whole book of the bible: The Song of Solomon. 

·        I PRAY. Prayer for me is a 2-way dialogue. I talk to my Daddy about what I feel, oftentimes I will get images or pictures of past events, or my imagination kicks in and I use it to encounter an approachable God.

·        I use the language that I am stumbling over. I begin to add the words to my vocabulary. This has had a powerful impact on my life. I am working the reality into my heart by using my words to establish the truth and my heart and actions begin to follow.

·        I study others who carry this revelation. In the case of sonship, I watched children run to their daddy’s, I watched dads sweep their little girls in their arms, I even watched some YouTube videos with good and not so good dads. All of this helped me sort through my paradigm of Daddy.

·        I looked at JESUS…the Son who is the EXACT representation of the Father. Jesus and the Father are one. By studying His character, His response to the hurt and broken, His passion as Abba, I began to connect deeper to the heart of my Daddy.

All of this helped me trust the intimacy of who Daddy is. All of this helped me begin to walk as a daughter, a beloved, adored, treasured daughter. This helped me accept my Dad’s jealousy over me and trust His leadership. It has helped me in my relationship with my adult children. Understanding the heart of Daddy God empowers me to represent my Dad here on earth better. And, if Jesus, the firstborn Son came to represent the Father, shouldn’t that be my mission on earth too? I want to represent my Daddy well and I cannot do that if I don’t know Him.

So, have you met Daddy God? Whether you are a father or mother, do you comprehend God’s Delight in you as a son or daughter?

As a single parent, our focus is on parenting well; but what abundant joy we can impart to our kids from the place of being the Beloved!  He is wooing us all into a deeper knowledge of this love…Can you hear the whisper of the Lord, “who will run with me?”

Misty Honnold is the founder and director of The Single Mom KC, an author for various websites, and speaker on multiple single parenting topics. For more information, please visit http://thesinglemomkc.org.