Every Father’s Day the first person I wish Happy Father’s Day too is my Father in heaven. Then my husband and earthly dad. I know it is just a Hallmark Holiday, I get that, but honor is fitting any day of the week, so when there is a specific day where people are going to go do things for their earthly husbands and fathers, I always make sure the Lord knows I view Him as my Father and I honor Him as such.

Maybe today is painful day for you. We forget dad’s may not have had dad’s, so many have hurt from their dad’s, but we all have earthly dad’s and we all have a Heavenly Father. Father’s are incredible people with a role only they can play. Father’s instill identity in their children; a fatherless generation is an identity challenged generation. The way to instill identity is to teach them about their father on earth and in heaven.

My Father in heaven has been protection when I thought it was rejection; He has been provider when I thought I was destined for poverty; He has been healer when I thought I was too broken to be loved. Jesus said, there is only one way to the Father and that is through Him the Son. It is not because His Father is distant, cold, angry, or unwelcoming, but because Jesus also said, If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father. Jesus was His Father on earth in the flesh. Jesus and His Father were One!

We have a Father who dwells in heaven but He is an ever present help in time of need; a Father to the fatherless; a defender of the widow and orphan. My prayer today for you is that you would lift up your eyes beyond the pain of your reality and see you have a Father in heaven, who loves you, champions you, disciplines you, all because He loves you so much. Whether man or woman, adult or child, we all have a need for a Father and what a great day to acknowledge our Father in heaven even as we celebrate our husbands and fathers on earth.