At the beginning of the week I began praying and asking God to give me the two desires of my heart which were to love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to ultimately honor my Daddy. In my mind I thought that if I could learn how to truly honor my Daddy, then he would love me more and show more affection to me.

As the week went on, I started to study my pride and selfishness and really ask God to reveal those shortcomings to me. As I searched God’s Word and daily prayed that God would bless my Daddy, I asked Him to give my dad the desire to pursue me and have more open love towards me and better communication. God suddenly turned the light on and I realized that I was asking for these things out of selfishness.

The next night we watched a powerful video called “The Father’s Love Letter.” God really spoke to me through the video and showed me that no matter how much affection my earthly father expresses or doesn’t express to me, my Heavenly Father will always love me more then anyone else in this world. I am now able to humbly bless my Daddy in knowing that if I give all of my love to God, He will give some of it back to my Daddy to love me with.

God has truly used this situation to strengthen my love and personal relationship with Jesus and even with my Daddy. I now have the freedom to love my Daddy without the selfish desires of trying to gaining his love in return, and ultimately focusing on loving the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.

~ Joanna
June 2008 Girls’ Journey