{"id":1547,"date":"2017-04-21T19:27:46","date_gmt":"2017-04-22T00:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/?p=1547"},"modified":"2019-05-17T13:16:10","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T18:16:10","slug":"father-thank-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2017\/04\/21\/father-thank-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Father, Thank You"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/?attachment_id=1548\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1548 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/42117-Father.jpeg\" alt=\"Woman on pier.  Text reads &quot;Father Thank You&quot;\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/42117-Father.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/42117-Father-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/42117-Father-624x416.jpeg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>by Lydia Floren<\/p>\n<p>The following prayer is on the first page of my thanksgiving journal. It blesses me, and I thought it might bless you too.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Father, Thank You\u2026<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><b><\/b><b>You give me<a href=\"http:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2014\/11\/08\/its-not-about-you-or-is-it\/\"> identity<\/a><\/b>. You made me and gifted me with all the wonderful qualities I possess.\u00a0 You have helped me see them and explore them. To understand them better. To cement them into a better <b>understanding of who I am.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><b>You give me belonging<\/b>. My place to belong. With no judgment or condemnation. Just <b>acceptance<\/b>, love, <b>arms open wide<\/b>. This place\/home is<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><b>&#8211; with You<\/b>. Every day. Where I am, there You are as well. And where You lead me to be is where I belong at the moment. And <b>I am safe<\/b> wherever that is.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><b>&#8211; with other true believers<\/b>, including those who have gone before, (like Nouwen, C.S. Lewis, Solzhenitsyn, St. Francis, Brother Lawrence, Hannah Whitehall Smith), and those in the Bible. And those in my life right now.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">&#8211; And <b>in eternity<\/b>, my forever home.<\/p>\n<p>And because of this true place that I belong, <b>I can be content <\/b>in the <b>place that I am<\/b>, wherever You have led me to be that day.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>You give me immeasurable value<\/b>, an innate <b>sense of true worth that has nothing to do with any accomplishment.<\/b> Just with the <b>reality of who I am &#8211; my inherent and unique spirit.<\/b> You didn\u2019t come to save me for my usefulness, but simply because I am important to you. I was worth coming for and dying for, simply for the <b>joy of my company<\/b> with You forever.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><b>You give me a sense of significance.<\/b> A unique place of service and influence in this world. <b>You invite me<\/b> into the world every day to love people, and to serve them and minister to them. <b>To be a part of what You are doing to redeem the world, and to restore it.\u00a0 In Your power. By Your direction. With Your wisdom and discernment. <\/b>And because it is in Your power, and by Your direction, I don\u2019t need to fret about the details. I can just trust the process and the plan I have prayed thru with You, knowing that You will adjust and redirect me when needed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><b>You give me safety and provision.<\/b> Protection. Safe passage wherever You lead me in life. And the understanding that You will provide everything that I need, including <b>contentment<\/b> in whatever circumstance I find myself. <b>And the ability to face pain and walk through it. <\/b>And You give me the <b>security<\/b> of knowing that You will come find me if I wander off the path, and will lead me back in the direction I need to go.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><b>You give me guidance, and fellowship\/company along the path You have set out for me<\/b>, every day practical guidance in healing, in ministry, in growth, in self-care, in tending what I have been given. Even guidance in how to plan, to strategize. Guidance in the spontaneous. Guidance in how You want to work thru me to bless others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><b>You give me Yourself.\u00a0 The greatest and best gift, and the most enduring one. <\/b>The <b>ongoing joy<\/b> of knowing that I am continually in Your presence\/company. Continually loved\/cherished. Continually wanted, and included. Continually protected. Continually supplied with everything that I need. Continually being healed, renewed, empowered, challenged, encouraged.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Father, thank You for the joy of knowing that I can trust You with my whole heart and my whole life.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><i>But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.\u00a0 John 16:8\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Lydia Floren The following prayer is on the first page of my thanksgiving journal. It blesses me, and I thought it might bless you too. Father, Thank You\u2026 You give me identity. You made me and gifted me with all the wonderful qualities I possess.\u00a0 You have helped me see them and explore them. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[14,24],"class_list":["post-1547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prayer-and-meditation","tag-prayer-and-meditation","tag-thankfulness"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Father, Thank You - Belovedlove<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/belovedlove.org\/reflections\/2017\/04\/21\/father-thank-you\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Father, Thank You - Belovedlove\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Lydia Floren The following prayer is on the first page of my thanksgiving journal. 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