My Father's Perfect Timing | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: My Father's Perfect Timing | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jennifer Champion
10/03/14
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES

God is always working in our lives; sometimes we are just stubborn to recognize it. This is a true account of how God revealed himself to me through His perfect timing and not my own.

It was the day before Father’s day in 1999. I pondered why I was even in Atlanta. I had quit a nine year job, uprooted my husband and little girl, and was about to leave my hometown. It had taken this new employer over eight months of negotiating to convince me to take the position. At the time, I was in Atlanta getting everything ready for my family to arrive in a week.

As I sat in my hotel room I noticed the phone book. With two hands, I put it in front of me on the bed. I sat there and just stared at it wondering if I should even look for his name. The name I was thinking about was my fathers. I had never met him. He left my mom and me the day I was born. Mom didn’t even have a picture of him, only a name. My whole life she had told me about him and described him to me but in the end, it was always just me and her. When I was sixteen, I skipped school and stayed home. Mom kept her diaries in the bottom left hand drawer of her dresser and I sat there all day reading them while she was at work. I was engulfed in her life from 1969 to 1973.

Since that day I searched for him. Every time I went out of town, I’d look for his name in the phone book. I had been doing this for ten years now. A second thought made me put the phonebook back on the table. Then, it dawned on me that there was never a time that I hadn’t looked so I got the phone book again. I did this ritual four times before I looked it up. There it was; his name. I picked up the phone and contemplated on whether or not I should call the number. At last, I called. As it wrung I thought about hanging up but then someone answered. It was a man’s voice, rather soft and nice. There in a motel room in Atlanta, I blurted out the question if he knew my mom. I gave him her name. He paused and finally said, “Is this Jennifer?” I thought I was going to pass out. It was him!

We talked for almost an hour and decided to meet each other for brunch the next day. The next morning, he picked me up at my hotel and handed me a small brown paper bag. Inside were homemade soaps. He told me how his sisters and his wife made soap. He had called them the night before after we had gotten off the phone and told them the story of us. His wife and sisters didn’t even know about me. They insisted he bring me soap and welcome me to the family. I felt bad at that moment because I hadn’t called anyone. I certainly didn’t call my mom and tell her for fear of how she would react. I really felt bad when I realized I hadn’t even called my husband. I guess I was scared; scared that it wasn’t real. I was scared he wouldn’t want me as his daughter. If he didn’t want me, then no one would know but me.

It was that Father’s Day in 1999 that I met my dad. It was a day that changed my life forever. I had discovered the real reason why God led me to Atlanta because the job I took was a bust. A month after meeting dad, the company went out of business.

Since meeting, Dad and I have spent vacations together. My oldest daughter enjoys every summer vacation with him and my wonderful step mother on Mobile Bay. I have met the Italian side of my family and discovered why I am the way I am. I even have pictures of my dad now. What is really great about them is that I am in them, too.

PREVIOUS ENTRY | NEXT ENTRY
SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY FOR THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE

The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.