Was catching up on my favourite blogs when I came across this lovely piece.  It is a tribute to a father who loved his step-daughter as one of his own.  Read it and be touched.

"Most people just take the father God gives them at birth. Not me.

God knew I needed a father I could touch to understand how much I am loved by Him. After all, a woman’s image of God is often a replica of her image of her earthly father. Since 1990, I’ve had a clearer image of God’s love because of my father.

I was nine, in 1989, when my mama met him. She loved him a lot. She asked if I loved him too. Until then, every man I had ever loved had gone away and left me and my
mama behind. I wanted my mama to have him. I wanted to love him, but I was afraid he’d leave her, so I wouldn’t let myself. After all, it was my father who had abandoned me after my parents divorced in 1987.

About a year later in July 1990, my mama married him, but I was still afraid to love him.

It took some time, but eventually, I learned to trust him. I asked him to become my father, legally. I was fourteen when on December 18, 1992, he stood before a judge, telling God and man that he chose me; that he wanted to be my father. I wanted that too.

It’s been over fifteen years since that day.

I didn’t know it then, but I was broken inside, when it came to understanding what it meant to have a father who loves me and really does want me to be his daughter. God knew that, and He always provides.

My father had been prepared, by God, to have a daughter. He wanted a daughter even though there hadn’t been a girl born into his family in many generations. God knew that he’d have a daughter and gave him the desire to be a little girl’s father. God gives us the desires of our hearts.

At times, I have felt forsaken, abandoned, and so alone that I couldn’t see the presence of anyone around me–even God, Himself. Thankfully, God put His skin on my father to help me learn to see Him when I feel alone.

As I have learned to trust him, I have trusted God more too. I’ve always known, in my head, that God wants to tuck me in at night, wipe away my tears, walk hand in hand with me, and be my Father. I can say that in the past fifteen years, I’ve been able to move that knowledge, slowly, from my head into my heart.

People
often say that it takes a “real man” to be a father. If you’re adopted, there’s more. Because it takes a VERY special kind of “real man” to be a father to someone else’s child.

I’m exceedingly grateful that I know a “VERY special kind of ‘real man’”. He’s more
than a father to me. He picked me to be his daughter.

His name is Dan Case, and I love him a lot."

–Sara Case, Fathers’ Day, 2008

By Dan: Even though I’d read this before—more than once—I will admit to shedding humble tears. I am so very blessed, and so thankful for God’s amazing restoration and grace in my life, that I’ve found it difficult to find words to express myself. If you know me, you know that anything that can shut me up so effectively is a mighty big deal.

I love you, Sara. Thanks for a wonderful Father’s Day–and for the privilege of being your father.

Source

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