Someone Worth Finding: A Father Who Found Me

“I love you.” His voice reassured as he tenderly kissed my forehead. He had found me.

Hopeful imagination of my biological father. A time he was absent in my life. A girl can dream.

My being so young and the passing of time had a way of causing memories to escape. I had forgotten what he was like. I knew he was out there somewhere. And I hoped to be found by my father.

My mother’s hands were full with me and my twin sister. So, she scooped everything up—including us—and moved from Texas to her hometown in Virginia.

Soon we were fortunate to have a wonderful stepfather come into our lives. A man who cared for and loved us as if we were his own daughters. To this day, I’m grateful for him.

But I’d seen my birth certificate.

The document contained everything, with no empty spaces or blank lines. Every section complete and filled in with facts and x’s: names and numbers, places and times, signatures and dates. 

Yet sometimes x’s only mark the spot where hurt dwells.

Line seven of my birth certificate held a name. But my life held a blank space and my heart an empty place. The place meant for a biological father.

And something caught my attention when comparing my birth certificate to my kid’s certificates years later. My children’s certificates of live birth list the mother’s name first, directly following child’s name.

However, my birth certificate from The Bureau of Vital Statistics, Texas Department of Health, lists the father’s name first, directly following my name.

To Know a Father

I wanted to know my father. Would I be a daddy’s girl? I wondered if I could sit in his lap or if he wore cologne. Maybe he would hoist me to his shoulders so I had a better view of animals at the zoo.

I had a loving stepfather, yet my heart whispered, “a real father is present.”

The man on line seven of my birth certificate came back into my life when I was in elementary school.

And my dad became known to me. He liked westerns and Johnny Cash. He cracked open pecans and salted before eating. Fried bologna and onion sandwiches were a favorite. Also, he played the piano and harmonica.

A Father Who Found Me

One thing he didn’t do with us—take us to church. My father did not believe in God. A self-proclaimed atheist, he’d say, “People think there is a God but there isn’t.”

I learned truths about God’s existence from my mother, friends in school, and the small church we attended.

At sixteen, I heard the gospel message at a church service. Jesus Christ was sent by His Father, died on a cross for me and loved me completely.

The love I craved. I became a daughter of the Most High God. A child of the heavenly Father. No longer a spiritual orphan—a Daddy’s girl.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God!” 1 John 3:1 (NIV)

I heard the gospel message. Jesus Christ, sent by His Father, died on a cross for me and loved me completely. I became a child of the heavenly Father. No longer a spiritual orphan. Click To Tweet

A Father’s Day

When I came to Christ, I began praying for my dad to believe in God.

It wasn’t Father’s Day, but what a wonder father’s day it was! Party balloons and family lined the walls of the nursing home’s activity room. My dad’s mother was celebrating a birthday.

During the festivities, my dad approached me teary-eyed. “Did you hear the news? I became a Christian.” What I hoped for came true. I was thirty-two. A sixteen-year prayer answered.

In 2010, five days before Christmas, my father passed away. The man listed on line seven of my birth certificate was in the presence of my heavenly Father and his heavenly Father. His birth and name on file, documented in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

God as Father Who Found Me

Earthly fathers can abandon us, physically or emotionally. We may never know our father because he left our world or this world.

A variety of fulfilling relationships occur with fathers, stepfathers, adopted fathers, or father-figures. But regardless of our earthly father-child experience, God, the Father cannot be compared.

God is infinitely better qualified to occupy our blank spaces and empty places with His love and presence. We are found by Him.

The Bureau of Vital Statistics, Heaven’s Department of Life, has listed the Father’s name first, directly following our name when our certificate of live spiritual birth has been filed.

“I love you.” Calvary’s cross reassures as God tenderly kisses our forehead.

The heavenly Father found me. Has He found you?

“I love you.” Calvary’s cross reassures as God tenderly kisses our forehead. The heavenly Father found me. Has He found you? Click To Tweet

Last week’s post, 7 Truths From the Bible to Know Jesus Loves Me

Sometimes I participate in these link-ups:

Legacy Linkup/Inspire Me Monday/Tell His Story/Recharge Wednesday/Let’s Have Coffee/Tune in Thursday/Embracing the Unexpected (Grace & Truth) and Faith On Fire.

---

© 2022 by Karen Friday, All rights reserved