Father's Day | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Father's Day | Previous Challenge Entry
By Catherine Borg-Fenech
03/06/15
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She had never really had a good relationship with her father, not that she could remember. Obviously there were a few childhood memories that made her smile, it wasn’t all bad. She knows he hugged her and read to her and she remembers laughing together when he sang silly songs. It was the later years that held the hurt and the pain. As a young girl she never fully understood but as an adult, things started falling into place. It wasn’t his fault. He had an illness, an addiction, one that wasn’t really visible to the rest of the world. His words never intended to cut, his silence wasn’t out of malice, he genuinely didn’t know his daughter and wasn’t fully responsible for the wounds that he caused. But all was not lost. God was watching over him and his family in ways they never expected. His ever faithful, loving and supportive wife, his three sons and his only daughter would suffer some more, but would heal at the same time.
‘Your dad has had a fall’, her mother’s words penetrated the silence. ‘He was going to his usual place but tripped on the way. He knocked himself out on the pavement’. She was three thousand miles away but could hear the worry in her mum’s voice. It would be another month until she returned home from working abroad and her mother insisted that she didn’t cut her stay short. ‘He will be ok, he’s home from the hospital and a little shaken up but he’ll be fine’. He would be more than fine as they were yet to find out. It was the wake-up call he had needed, the push back onto the right path, and he was going to rediscover who he was.
The young woman returned and was happier than she’d been in a long time. It was on her journey away from home where she’d really fallen in love with Jesus, she knew she was different and was excited about things to come. What she didn’t expect to hear as her mother greeted her at the airport was just how excited her father was to see her. A month had passed and he was a changed man, asking every five minutes what time his daughter would arrive home, pacing around the living room and watching the clock. It was difficult to believe about a man whom she barely knew and had sometimes given up on, however the evidence was there, she walked into the house, threw her backpack down and saw him standing there; her dad. The man she had fallen out with many times, the one who never had anything positive to say had gone. In his place was her father with his arms outstretched about to willingly welcome his daughter home. It was the first hug she had received from him since she was a little girl and it was the first step to reconciliation.
The next few years would see weddings, they would welcome children into the world and witness their family grow, but they would also notice the rapid deterioration of her dad. First it was his speech that he lost, then his mobility and eventually his mind, he was slowly leaving his family behind yet they were thankful. For the last few years they had known him and loved him, he had been their dad again.
Gathered together around the bed it was her turn to say her goodbye. She recounted the story of her return home, his welcoming smile and the beginning of a relationship that she could be proud of. She hadn’t even realised she needed to but she had finally forgiven her father. She kissed him gently on the head and softly stroked his face. ‘I love you dad’, she whispered, ‘Thank you for everything!’ It was an emotional evening and tears were flowing as his loved ones prayed around him. But they were all feeling strong. They knew God was present in that room and they knew Jesus was waiting to take their dad by the hand. Everything that had happened to ever make them sad or angry seemed explained, deep down he was a good man and God had allowed them to see this over the past few years. Relationships had been restored, hearts were mended and now they all had faith that he would receive his eternal salvation. That man left the room on a cloud of prayer. Her daddy had found his way home.

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