Princesses Without Daddies

Today in church, our preacher spoke on rejection. How in Luke 4, Jesus was rejected from his home town and almost even thrown off of a cliff because he told the people exactly how it was. I personally have severe degrees of deep dislike concerning this concept. Rejection….Even the word gives you that nasty, slimy chill when you say it:

REJECTION

Esh.

I suppose to be totally honest, much to the chagrin of my martyr like, melancholy spirit of tragedy, I really haven’t been rejected too badly in my love life. I have only seriously had a heartbreak rejection by three guys… two of which were decent, good guys who, given the pain of losing them aside, have in some way helped me through a difficult period in my life and helped me become a better person. The other, well, he was just a mess and should have been rejected by me years sooner with as much childish cruelty and hurtful words he gave to me. But other than that, I can’t really say I have had a tragic history of love-life rejection.

My father is a different story. It’s like…growing up your entire life, you are fed rotten bananas. Now you know that this can’t be right or even good that someone would even think to feed you a rotten banana every day. It is disgusting and gross. But everyone tells you that this is what is normal, this is what is right, and this is what you deserve. So you grow up your entire life thinking that the best you deserve is a rotten banana. 

And when a young man comes into your life and gives you a rotten apple, you take it without question because you think that is what you are supposed to get…it is simply what you deserve. It is one thing when a silly, stupid young man decides he doesn’t want you…but when your father decides he doesn’t want you…and cannot love you enough to give you any more than a rotten banana….that is real rejection.

Sometimes I look back on the boys I have liked, and remember how long and painful it was to get over them.  How their shadows lingered so long in my heart and how even after the last words between us were spoken, their voices stay inside my head. If I had someone to run too, someone stronger, someone truer, someone who would assure me that I was the most beautiful girl in the world, that I was intelligent and strong, and that this horrible cad of a male who broke my heart wasn’t worth a single one of my tears—oh, goodness… what a different girl I would be today.

I think it is one of the cruelest and heartless crimes for a dad to steal away from a daughter what should be her most loved, most trusted hero of her world. And the most horrible part about all this is that most girls don’t even realize that they deserve so much better than what they have been offered. They take a bite out of the rotten fruit, swallow it with a grimace, and begin to learn to doubt their judgement. Maybe they really are worth only this much. Maybe what they long for deep in their hearts isn't real. Maybe there are no such things as heroes.  I feel throughout my life, I have struggled with feeling like I trust God entirely. It began to dawn on me that because I never had an earthly father with whom I shared an intimate, trusting relationship, it was hard for me to believe that there was another Father who did. 

It wasn’t until recently, I learned differently. I have to say that I was in some of the worst pain of my life. I was very confused, very lost, and my heart hurt very badly. I felt like I was trying to rebuild a burning building and I had no idea how to get out of this mess. And then, the most amazing thing happened. Everything went wrong and it suddenly ended. I have seen the ways Satan slithers in and messes everything up. I have see just worldly bad luck tear apart in impartial cruelty something good…but the ways this situation messed up wasn’t like any of those things. The timing was perfect. The
quiet, subtle ways in which everything fell apart was orchestrated in such pristine, perfection that it gave me that chilly, eerie feeling that this was something different. This was something beyond the messy tricks of Satan, his half-lies and his lingering drips of heartache. This was quiet, quick, very clear, and very, very powerful.

God stepped in, grabbed my hand, and pulled me out of that building. And even as I foolishly tried long after to go back into that building, He firmly and lovingly held fast to my hand and never once has let go. For the first time in my entire life, I felt as if God was directly there, present, by my side. And suddenly, it dawned on me: Someone loved me enough to save me. Someone saw that I was hurting and that Someone came immediately to my rescue. And I know that Someone will never, ever give me any rotten fruit.  I am slowly beginning to realize what it means to have a deep, trusting, intimate relationship with God. I am slowly beginning to realize what I do deserve….what all of us daddy-less Princesses deserve. We deserve to be love and cherished as beautiful daughters of God. And one day, one happy, joyful day, we will get to go home and run into our Father's arms.

"The Lord [my loving Father] will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen." 2 Tim 4:18

“Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God,
the Holy One of Israel...Others were given in exchange for you.
I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to Me.
You are honored, and I love you." ~ Is 43:1-4