By Treva Susuras

Were you raised with a loving father that was always there for you, protecting you, loving you, taking care of you? Did he come home every night, pay attention to you , make you feel important to him? Did you know that when you are in his arms nothing could hurt you. Did he make you feel safe? If you said yes then praise the Lord! It’s much easier to understand and accept the Heavenly Fathers love.

But if no is your answer, well neither did I. You know I never even knew I missed it. Don’t get me wrong I love my dad, I know he loved me but he was just never there. He was an alcoholic, and it eventually killed him. Addiction stole him from his children. I never knew what it was like for my dad to be there for me and give me security. I knew I could call him and if he was sober he would be there for me but you just couldn’t depend on him to be sober. After my parents divorce, my mom married a man that loved me and my brother and sister and we were blessed to have him. But by that time we were insecure and had problems of our own.

Speaking just for myself, I had no idea what unconditional love was. My step dad became my dad, but I knew my dad and wanted him. I did love my step dad very much but still desired to be with my dad. You may be wondering why I am telling you all this. There is one very good reason.

I realize now that there are feelings out there that I never knew. Security, comfort, unconditional love to mention a few. When you never had something you never know you missed it. When I met Doug, my husband, I remember the one thing I said to him. I said,” I always feel so safe in your arms.” I had never known that feeling before. I had been married 3 times before that and still I had never known that feeling of security, trust and love. Doug taught me what real love is. Sacrifice, and putting someone else’s needs before your own, being there for them, being dependable and sure.

Now let’s get on with the reason I am writing this blog. I have found out over the years of serving the Lord that there is a fathers love we can have from the Heavenly Father. He is all those things to us if we can let go and let Him love us. Christian leaders tell us Jesus is your Heavenly Father, but if you have never know a fathers love that does not mean much to us. Sometimes our fathers were abusive, and that puts a distance between us and the Heavenly Father. If you don’t know a fathers love but everyone keeps telling Jesus is our Father in heaven it is hard to understand something we have never had.

Let me assure you, The Father in heaven loves us unconditionally, no matter what we have done, He is there for us when we need Him, we are secure in Him, we are important to Him. He will never hurt us, leave us, forsake us, you can depend on Him. We can run to him and we are safe. He has our best interest at heart.

Doug and I were invited to go to dinner with my son Doug, and daughter-in-love, Jessi, for her birthday dinner along with the two babies. Her family was going and we have been long time friends with her family so it was pretty awesome to spend time with them but one thing I noticed that stood out was at the end of dinner we were out on the front porch of the restaurant. We were all saying goodbye to each other and she went up to her father to say goodbye. I heard her say thank you dad, and he scooped her up and gave her the biggest hug. I realized right then I was seeing a fathers love that I had never known. A father loving his daughter, hugging her and you could tell she was so comfortable in his arms. True love, security, trust, significance, safety… then I thought to myself, that must be how our heavenly Father loves us. When we go to Him He scoops us up, He loves us, we are important to Him.

After that I called Marty, Jessi’s dad and asked him to write about his love for his daughters so I could post it along with this blog. Just think if this is how a person loves his daughters can you just imagine how much more our Heavenly Father loves us?

This is what he wrote;