He is like a father to us,tender and sympathetict those who reverence him. Psalm. 103:13. is a powerful section of Scripture that can help those who have suffered the loss of a Father's love.

As you look closely at this description of your heavenly Father, you'll gain insight and encouragement to break negative patterns and replace them with a heart filled with God's love. Those with physically or emotionally distant father often have two "holes in the heart", a feeling of insignificance, and a lack of security.

Feelings of Insignificance:

Brian's father told him that he'd go with him on his Scouting Camp-out. Brian waited for weeks for the morning they'd pack the van and join his friends in roughing it. But his father came home late from work, and after sleeping in the next morning, the only thing he packed was his golf clubs, so he could spend the day with his friends.

"I can see now," Brian said,"that my father never intended to go on that Scout Camp-out, he just didn't have the guts to tell me.I grew up knowing that his golf was more important to him--more important than his Son."

Children lose a much-needed sence of significance when they don't recieve a Father's love. As a result, they can feel that they are insignificant even to God, so when a Father tells his Son he is going with him, he needs to keep his word; because when we try to tell them about God's love they remember their own father's lack of love and can't grasp how God could ever love them.

Felings of Insecurity:

Diane's father left her family when she was eight and her sister was five. After months of never hearing from him, he finally called and said that he would be coming over on Easter Sunday to see his girls. Diane helped her little sister get into her finest dress, and together they sat on the back of the couch looking out the window, waiting for their father. He never showed up.

The sad realityof that hurtful day left a deep sence of insecurity in diane's life. She felt she couldn't trust her father or his words, and, more deeply, she felt she couldn't trust any man (or even God) to keep from hurting her.

God's Forgiveness:

God says He forgives us for all our Iniquties, and our Sins;Psalms.102:1-5. A prayer when overwhelmed with trouble, Lord hear my prayer, listen to my plea! V2. Don't tuirn away from me in this time of my distress, bend down your ear, and give me speedy answers,V 3-4.. For my days disappear like smoke, my health is broken, and my heart is sick; it is trampled like grass and is withered.God's love can move a mighty Mountain, He loves us more than we could ever imagine because He sent His Son to die for us.

God's Healing Love:

A child who grows up with out a father's consistent, affirming, touching love, is often robbed of significance and security.Yet those twin holes can be healed.And that's because we've got a heavenly Father who loves us better and more deeply than any earthly father ever could.

But to accept that reality, we've got to look at what our heavenly Father is really like and not view him through the defective lenses of an absent or distant earthly father. Thats where Psalm.103 can help us. Read through that psalm right now. Get out a piece of paper and divide it into three columns. In the left colmn, write every characteristic of God presented in this psalm. For example,"He forgives all my sins."

In the middle colmn, write a practical application, for example, My heaveny Father completely forgives me for..." Once you've gone through the entire psalm filling in the left and middle colmns, write your own father's name at the top of the right colmn. Then go back down your list and mark every trait that your own father had or has.

For example, put a check mark by"He forgives all my sins" if your own father forgave you when you did wrong.If your list contains only one or two check marks for your own father, you're a strong candidate for the cycle of hurt from fatherlessness.

In addition to letting God's love and acceptance break the cycle of hurt in your own life, if you're a father yourself you can break the cycle by making sure your children don't have to suffer this hurt. Even the best of fathers can't match our heavenly Fathers perfection. but the best way to give your children a clear picture of a loving God is to love them with Christlike love.

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