I love the yearly tradition of the father-daughter dance at Grace’s school. It is such a great idea: Dads are the first to acknowledge the value and beauty of our precious girls before they leave the nest. They receive the acceptance of their dads and feel confident of their uniqueness. The lack of this gift would be disastrous for the young girls if they do not feel they are worth pursuing and end up opening their hearts to any who pays a little attention to them.

We are God’s special possession. We are His princesses. We are royalty. He woos us to Himself and does not wish that we are taken advantage of.

Since I did not have a close relationship with my father and did not have Jesus in my life, I ran around looking for love and acceptance. I wanted to be pursued and wooed. In all the wrong places, ending in more hurt than I started with.

Now years later, I realize how much my Lord loves me. I sometimes wish I knew Him early in life, but then, maybe, I would not have appreciated His pure love unconditionally given to me.

It has never occurred to me to be thankful for the years of feeling lost and unloved. Now I see a glimmer of His purpose in letting me walk through those valleys of darkness and seeing me through. Just as Jesus will never forsake me, I want to feel confident that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I will not forsake Him, either.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving me those hurtful experiences to help me appreciate Your “overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love” expressed perfectly by Cory Asbury in his inspiring song, “Reckless Love.”

God bless you and your loved ones. 

Meryem Kennedy