No one can tell me that fathers and daughters can't
have close relationships, or even become best friends. People are almost envious
of the love my dad and I share. The only time we argue is about who loves who
the most. But our relationship was not always this warm. There was a time when I
felt I had lost my ability to love my father. I was a teenage Christian in a
public high school. My Christian background made me different. I was new,
craving acceptance. My father's rules seemed to be the source of my rejections.
Fueled by my insecurities, in my eyes my dad became
the root of my problems. While I set an adequate standard and struggled to live
by it, he was strict. I was angry because he refused to back down from the
standard he knew was right. He refused to appeal to my ignorance in order to
keep my acceptance.
Things were going from bad to worse during those
years. We hit bottom the day I looked him square in the eyes and told him that I
hated him. They were harsh words, but it was a hard time. I didn't really hate
him. I hated me. I felt I wasn't bad enough to be accepted by my friends and not
good enough to be accepted at home. When these feelings take over your life, you
search for something-anything-to blame. I chose my father. He carried the brunt
of my pain. He even became my enemy.
In my heart I knew I didn't hate him. I was angry and
confused. I felt he wasn't concerned with how I felt. It seemed he had made no
room for compromise with my situation. He risked losing my love to save my soul.
It was a hard time for both of us. He suffered the
pain of rejection as I did. He suffered the hurt and the loss, but from a
different angle. His fear of the Lord withstood his fear of pain. He loved me,
but he had a higher obligation than my favor and my approval. I'm sure at times
he wondered if he was doing the right thing. There must have been times when he
felt like his prayers were hitting the ceiling and bouncing back at his feet.
At times I'm sure he considered lowering his
standards. It would have made things so much easier than wrestling with the
power of an independent, strong-willed child. These considerations may have
come, but he never gave in to them. He stood firm and prayed harder.
The prayers of a righteous man availeth much. Many
times he cried out to the Lord in anguish and in frustration, "What have I done
wrong?" My father has a wonderful ministry to God in prayer. I think I had
something to do with the character God worked in him during those days. Before
he ever prayed for cities and nations he was on his face praying for me.
"Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when
he is old he will not depart from it" (Prov 22:6). That verse was a promise that
he would hold on to. "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" (Acts 2:17)
was another promise he stood upon.
He had given me to the Lord, set a godly standard and
held God to His Word.
At the same time, I was wrestling with my salvation.
My desire to be accepted by my non-Christian friends at school warred against my
desire to be with the Lord. James speaks of a double-minded person being
unstable in all of their ways (see James 1:8). I was completely unstable. I
walked on a line between heaven and hell. I wanted the best of both worlds and
was satisfied in neither.
Although I had been brought up in the church, the
world had taken its toll on me. My eyes had been blinded to the sin in my own
life, further separating me from God and parents. It was so hard for me to see
my way out.
When a child is brought up in a Christian home,
regardless of what may happen, there is a seed that has been planted in their
hearts that continues to grow. It's an amazing seed because it can grow in the
dark without water; it can even bloom in adversity. The reason we can never
outrun God is because He is that seed growing within us. Once you have tasted
the presence of the Lord, nothing satisfies you like He can. Sometimes those who
seem to be running the hardest from God are doing so because He is so close to
them.
On the outside, my witness was weak and I was in
bondage to my unsaved friends. But inside my heart cried for oneness with the
Lord. I hated my double-mindedness as much as my father did. My whole life I
wanted strong Christian friends to save the world with me. I wanted the support,
I just never had it. I did the best I could with what I had, but I lost my
sensitivity to sin. The more I was with non-Christian people the more deceived I
became.
Paul warns, "Do not be bound together with
unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what
fellowship has light with darkness?" (2 Cor 6:14) I didn't realize the impact my
unsaved friends had on me. The more I was with them the more I conformed to
them. When I look back, I know if my parents had not been praying for me, I
would have been on my way to hell.
Sin has a way of moving in and taking control. But
love is as strong as death, and many waters cannot quench love (see Song 8:6-7).
Love never fails (see 1 Cor 13:8). And prayer is the highest power through which
love is released. I had to relearn how to love. My love had become completely
self-centered and conditional. I had failed to realize that my father and my
Lord loved me unconditionally. I had only to try. I had only to bridge the
communication gap to understand that God had loved me before I was even aware of
His standards. And my dad loved me for me alone, not for something I had to
become.
My relationship with my father is wonderful, and
that's the truth. God has proven faithful in the working of both our lives. The
Lord has bridged the gap and filled it with love. It took me leaving my
environment and being planted with Christian people who faithfully loved me. It
also took my will to change, but it did happen.
Listen, please don't give up on your teenagers. Don't
sacrifice God's standards of righteousness to appeal to their carnal nature.
They can't respect you for it and God won't honor it. Your children were not
consecrated to Satan; they were dedicated to the Lord. He has had His hand on
them and He will not forget them. He has heard your prayers and He is faithful
to your cries. He is God.
Prayer works. I'm living proof of it. I look back now
and see how many times nothing but the miraculous dedication of loving parents
took me out of hopeless situations. The Lord will not forsake His children. He
will not turn His back on them. We are never too far from His reach. Believe the
promises of the Lord. He is not a liar. He honors a steadfast heart.
Hold on! Your children will come back to the Lord.
(c) Copyright 2002 Francis Frangipane
tblake@frangipane.org
ISBN 1-886296-22-7 Printed in the United
States of America All rights reserved Scriptures, unless otherwise noted, are
taken from the New American Standard Bible
(c) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972,
1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. In
Christ's Image Training Center 125 Robins Square Ct Robins, IA 52328 Phone:
(319) 395-7617 Fax: (319) 395-7353 Arrow Publications, Inc., publisher
P. O. Box 10102 Cedar Rapids, IA 52410 Phone: (319)
395-7833 Fax: (319) 395-7353
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