It was a little less than 2 years ago I stood in the training center at Adventures in Missions, overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord. Training Camp for the World Race wrecked me. For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel like I had to pretend to have it all together. It was okay to acknowledge past hurts and wounds, and in that acknowledgement find healing and freedom.
One night, someone was praying over us and called God Daddy. I had never thought of God as a Dad. Of course, Heavenly Father, and the example of a perfect father figure , but never something so informal and yet intimate as daddy. My heart was broken as I realized the walls I had put up between me and God because I didn’t understand this intimacy. I didn’t know how to call Him Daddy or Papa or Abba because I saw him as the old man in the sky, who was sovereign and loving and trustworthy, but I didn’t necessarily know how to feel that way about him—as a good, loving Dad.
Needless to say, I was wrecked. I wept and sobbed and asked God for more of that intimacy. And He took me on a pilgrimage into His heart and around His world.
Last week was training camp for the Real Life trip I am leading. And in the same training center where two years ago the idea of calling God Daddy was so foreign and the idea of His love sweeping in like a hurricane and sinking in His grace was so new, I was screaming and shouting and singing with all my might ABBA FATHER. Papa. Daddy. For fifteen minutes straight, just telling God who He is—a good good father. A loving Abba Papa.
This intimacy with my Daddy is new and wonderful. To see Him for who He really is, as a loving, protective, merciful, gracious Dad is so amazing. I am in awe of how far God has taken me in two years, and how far He will continue to take me as I step into more and more intimacy and love.
“He’s a good good daddy, with a good good heart. He’s a good good father to us.”
