A Father’s Blessing

Today's Daily Encounter

A Father’s Blessing

"Joseph said to his father, ‘They are my sons, whom
God has given me in this place.’ And he said, ‘Please
bring them to me, and I will bless them.’"1

Working with people in support groups over a number of
years it has amazed me how many participants--both men
and women--had a father issue. That is, they felt that
their father was never or rarely involved in their life
either physically or emotionally when they were a child
and/or a teenager. All of these people have a deep
father wound because they never received their
father's affirmation or blessing.

Popular author and psychologist, Gary Smalley, lists
some key answers received after asking one hundred
people how they knew that they had received their
father's blessing. Following are some of the answers
he received:

1. "My father would put his arm around me at church
and let me lay my head on his shoulder."

2. "When my father was facing being transferred at
work, he purposely took another job so that I could
finish my senior year in high school at the same
school."

3. "When I wrecked my parent's car, my father's first
reaction was to hug me and let me cry instead of
yelling at me."

4. "When I was thirteen, my dad trusted me to use his
favorite hunting rifle when I was invited to go
hunting with a friend and his father."

5. "My father went with me when I had to take back an
ugly dress a saleswoman had talked me into buying."

6. "My father would let me practice pitching to him
for a long time when he got home from work."

7. "Even though I had never seen him cry before, my
father cried during my wedding because he was going to
miss me no longer being at home."

For those of us who have had or still have an
unresolved father issue we know the pain of missing
out on our father's blessing. For fathers of
children/teens who are reading this article, I trust
you will realize the crucial role you play in the
emotional and spiritual development of your children.
With your blessing they have a much greater chance of
having a fulfilling life and a healthy marriage and
family life. Without your blessing they may, like
millions of others, spend the rest of their life
seeking love in all the wrong ways and places, albeit
in an unconscious and desperate attempt to fill the
empty void in their heart caused by a lack of their
father's blessing and their subsequent father wound.

Suggested prayer (if you have a father wound): "Dear
God, thank you for helping me to see that I never
received my father's blessing. Please lead me to the
help I need for the healing and recovery of my father
wound. (If you are a father): Please help me to be the
father my children need so they will know without a
shadow of a doubt that they have my full blessing.
Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer.
Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

NOTE: For further help see "Healing a Man's Father
Wound" (the same principles apply to healing a woman's
father wound) click on: http://tinyurl.com/9dse4. See
also Norm Wright’s book, Healing for the Father Wound.
Available at: http://tinyurl.com/32scsv)

1. Genesis 48:9 (NIV).

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