Devotions with Pastor Fran Ruecker

A Tribute to My Heavenly Father

As a young adult growing up, I had a burning desire to know my birth father. I had never met the man. I just knew of him or at least knew of the man that was supposed to be my father. As a child, I craved the love and affection of a loving father; someone that would tell me how pretty I was or how glad he was that I was his little girl, like other fathers told their daughters. I spent many a day daydreaming of that perfect father – the one that would one day come into my life and sweep me off my feet, only to wake up to the reality that I didn’t really know my birth father, and the father that I had been unfortunate enough to know was abusive. I began a search for my father when I was twenty eight years old, only to find out what I had always envisioned would never become a reality.

One day while sitting in a church service on Father’s Day, I was listening to a message that really spoke deep into my heart. The pastor was describing a Father that would always love you unconditionally, always be there for you; never abuse you. A Father that would meet every need you ever would have; a Father that would never leave you or forsake you. A Father that loved me enough to give me the best gift a Father could give – His one and only Son.
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I realized there in that pew for the first time, how blessed I was and didn’t even know it. God had given me a Father, a Heavenly Father that could give me what no earthly father could ever give. I also realized how blessed I was to have husband like God had given me. He was that kind of father, the kind I always dreamed of having, to the children God so graciously blessed me with. He was the best father any child could ever want.

I never searched again for my birth father. It didn’t matter anymore. God had healed my heart and had wrapped His loving arms around me and I no longer had a desire for an earthly father.

So today with Father’s Day fast approaching, I say a huge thank you to my Heavenly Father who has been the best Father I could ever have. And a huge thank you to my Heavenly Father for blessing me with a father for my children like Arnie was. Arnie is no longer with us but his memory still lives on and he left a great legacy to all of his children. The time he spent with his children and the memories they created together are something that will always remain. They are the fathers today to their children because of the example he set before them.

So if you are a father, cherish those children God has entrusted into your care. Spend quality time with them and make great memories with them that will last a life time. But most of all point them to Jesus and to our Heavenly Father by the words you say and the way in which you live. Some day when this life on earth is finished, we can be assured that when we stand before our Heavenly Father we will all have to give an account of what type of father or mother we were. May you live your life so that when that day comes, you will hear the words,” Well done, thy good and faithful servant! “

Blessings,
Pastor Fran