A Father to the Fatherless.

“Father to the fatherless, defender of widows- this is God, whose dwelling is holy.” Psalms 68:5

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and they use a word you don’t know the meaning of? Externally, you may nod your head and appear to know what they are saying or be on high alert for context clues. Then, there’s the internal dialogue making you feel shame for not understanding what that word means and wondering why you’ve never used it before?

Well, that was me every time I heard the word “Dad.” I knew what the word meant and the value it held, but in my situation it was a three letter word I was never given the chance to say, until this year. Father to the fatherless.

My papa holds great significance in my life. He stepped up to the role of fatherhood and as grateful as I am for him doing that, dad is not what I call him (He will alway be Papa💛). He has a habit I admire. Every morning He reads his one year bible. This is a daily practice I have observed since I was a little girl. It eventually lead to me asking him for one during Christmas time (2015 to be exact- if you love details as much as me 😉). Upon my readings I discovered Psalms 68:5,

From that verse, stemmed a bold prayer that a loving-gracious God decided to answer. He answered it in a way that only He could think of. A way that filled the void inside me, brought glory to his name and serves as hope for you.

Hurt from an earthly Father

Perhaps your dad is physically in your life, but emotionally he is nowhere to be found. Making you feel like you’re not good enough and your feelings are of little importance.

Maybe your dad made a choice to never step into the role of being your father. Tattooing the words abandoned and unwanted to your identity.

An unfortunate event could have happened, taking your father in a way that felt too soon.

You could have a great dad, but he has made choices that have hurt you as a result.

Any of those situations is enough to feel like an unconditional love to last the rest of your life from a father is out of reach. Friends, I’m here to give you encouragement and let you know it’s closer than you think. But It may present itself in a way you never imagined would be possible.

Seek Me and You’ll find me

“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all of your heart.”

Jeremiah 29:13

This is a promise from God that I cling to often. This bible verse along with Psalms 68:5 (the one I shared earlier), prompted me to pray that God would reveal himself to me as the father. I explained my situation and feelings surrounding it (Yes, he already knew-he just loves hearing from us), and how I wanted to call him Dad. I prayed that to him back in January.

Fast forward to May, I had opportunities present themselves to me and I was having a hard time deciding what to do, SO this time I prayed that God would speak to me, specifically in a dream (this was on a Tuesday). Nothing actually happened that night (at least from my viewpoint-He’s always up to something up there). But then, Thursday night came and everything changed for me.

In the middle of my biggest fear

In the dream, I started out in a the park with a friend of mine from church. I was explaining to her the choices I needed to make, when the dream shifted locations.

I was now standing in the middle of the ocean (if you know me, you know this is my biggest fear in life- to be in the middle of the ocean and see no trace of land anywhere to only be eaten by a shark). In front of me appeared to be a white styrofoam “sidewalk”, on each side were thousands of black sharks.

I pulled my friend and told her we needed to go. I just kept looking straight ahead and we were moving along just fine until I made the mistake of looking down and locking eyes with one of the sharks.

In that moment I tried to pull my friends hand to move faster and she moved out of the way, causing me to fall down into the shark infested water. My ankle was bitten, but I somehow survived and made it back to where we started in the ocean.

As I was looking up, I saw this bright figure with a long white robe, but I could not see his facial features at all. I was on my knees crying saying how sorry I was and what I believe was God, specifically as the Father, said to me, “I know you are. See what happens when you try to go by yourself.” Then, He grabbed my hand and put me in a submarine.

I’m Safe

Inside there were other people, but I didn’t recognize any of them. He moved to the side and opened these wooden panels, which floor to ceiling windows were behind. Then he disappeared. I was sitting on this wooden bench facing away from the window, when lights kept flickering and the loudest sound kept hitting up against the submarine.

In the dream I was scared and most of the people inside were panicking. I decided to get up and walk over to the window and noticed the scariest sea creatures passing by (they were making the loud noise and slamming into the submarine). I. began getting scared and looked to my right when I noticed a young man in tears almost hyperventilating. That’s when I looked over my shoulder and saw God as the Father again, but I could only see from the neck down.

When I looked at him, I said I’m safe in my head, smiled and turned around. Then the dream ended.

A Father that Pursues

When I woke up the next morning I couldn’t believe the dream I just had. I decided to get out my daily bible app, hoping something would align with what just happened. Friends, I had not used my daily bible app in a few weeks and the prayer on there was insane! I’ll Include a screenshot down below. It said,

This prayer sums up my whole dream! I was trying to cross my biggest fear all on my own, filled with anxiety while doing it, until I stared at the fear long enough for it to attack me. Then I told God I was sorry and he graciously said, “I know you are. See what happens when you try to do things on your own.”

Then in the submarine when everyone (myself included) was panicking from the loud sounds, attack on the submarine, and flickering lights, I turned around and found God as the Father and felt SAFE.

SAFE was the word I said in my head that lead to my smiling and turning back around right before the dream ended. God made sure I remembered that word when I woke up. Because the next morning when I read that bible app prayer and saw the word safe, tears began flooding my face and I felt the exact same feeling I did in that dream. It’s so hard to explain, but I knew it was him and my father wanted me to know it was him.

FAther to the Fatherless

A few people in my friend group asked me if I felt like God gave me an answer on what to do with the choices I needed to make. I told them No. You see, I asked God for one thing that Tuesday night, in my prayer. I asked him to speak to me in a dream on what to do and he decided to live out his verse in Ephesians 3:20-21,

God never told me exactly which choice to make, he gave me so much more in that dream. He let me know that no matter where I go, He is there. No matter how loud the noise is getting on the outside, He is there. And no matter how big my fears my seem, He is bigger and I am safe with him. Most of all, he gave me the opportunity to mouth the word “Dad”, as that is what I call him now.

I don’t know your situation with your earthly Father, but I know the void my heavenly Father filled in me. His endless pursuit to show himself and his unconditional love to me, is there for you too.

What I hope you take from this

This is a dream/experience I encountered back in May and I just now felt prompted to share it on here for you. The more I shared this with those in my life, the more I saw how encouraged others were to boldly pray to God. Not only boldly pray, but expect him to answer (ask, believe, receive). I have a verse taped to my bedroom wall that says,

Sometimes it can be easy to take this verse and try to apply it to materialistic things, but imagine taking this and using it to get closer to God. I asked God to speak to me in a dream and I believed he would. Why? Because it aligns with him.

I wasn’t asking for something that could go against his goodness. What I didn’t know is he would be in the dream and while I never saw his face- I knew it was him. He wants you to ask for big things, and he wants to give them to you.

And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

Exodus 33:17-23

If you have a wound inflicted from you dad, I encourage you to seek God. Ask him boldly in prayer to reveal himself to you as Dad. He may not do it in the same way as he did for me, but he will do it in a way that is special to you.

Pray boldly and seek the Father!

Other connections to this dream

There were other things that have happened throughout the year that aligned with this dream. Last December my cousin gave me a book mark for Christmas that says Emilee with the Isaiah 41:10 verse.

What my cousin didn’t know was that verse was taped by bed on the wall, months before she gifted me that bookmark. Also, in the dream when I was on my knees and God took my hand, it was his right hand from the way we were facing. That’s a verse I read almost everyday because it’s my bible bookmark and guess who knew that? God.

Last December I also prayed to God for a word to focus on for 2023 (a practice I learned from Sadie Robertson). Guess what the word God gave me was? VISION.

Also when I told my papa my dream, he reminded me of the verse which says no one can see God’s face and live. I never saw his face in my dream, which aligns with the word of God!

You see what I mean? He is so intentional with us. He knows how my brain works and he knows how serious I take the “Seek me and you will find me” verse.

Prayer for you

I pray this encourages you. I pray that God’s spirit would guide you in sharing your whole heart to him, the easy and hard areas of your life. That you would boldly pray to him and he would help you have the faith to believe in what you are asking for. I pray he would reveal himself to you and his love in a way tailored to you- So you know it’s from him. Lastly, I pray you have the courage to share what he has done in your life, in hopes others will begin searching for him.

With love, Em

Resources:

• Follow along for everyday life/ encouragement on Instagram HERE / @ Emileerachelle_
• Compassion Inspires Facebook group HERE
• “Back to the Basics” series HERE