Father To The Fatherless
By Carlton McDuffie
My biological father did not raise me. Understandably, I deeply felt a void and yearned for him to be in my life. Yet despite my yearning, he was not there. At best he was in and out, visiting once or twice a year on holidays and special occasions. Yet even as a young fatherless child, I felt a little insight about God.
I realized that the almighty may have allowed my earthly father to be missing from my life for good reason. Maybe, He knew my dad wouldn’t have done such a great job. Through ignorance he may even have guided me down the wrong paths. Nevertheless, I wanted my dad. Through amazing grace I received Christ as my Lord and savior at around 11 years old, being miraculously delivered from Catholicism.
Sometime later I ran across a verse in Psalms while reading the word, it claimed that God was “a father to the fatherless and a judge of the widows”. The verse struck a deep chord within me and I pondered it’s meaning for a while. Then I did something bold. I vividly remember walking to the middle of my Grandmother’s driveway where my mother, my two sisters and I lived.
Looking to the sky, I took God up on his offer. “Ok God, you’ll be a father to the fatherless huh? Well here I am, the fatherless, please be my dad,” I begged out loud to the clouds above. Since that day God has not disappointed on his Psalms 68:5 claim of himself. He has been an invisible father and miracle worker in my life. He saved my soul at 11 and saved my life on numerous occasions as a young confused man, so full of anger with my absentee earthly father.
He has fulfilled some of my dreams including getting a college education and becoming a professional athlete. He has loved me and shown me how to love, fed me physically and spiritually with seemingly meager provisions. He has blessed me with loyal friends who are also lovers of his word. He has blessed me with a beautiful, fruitful, loyal and industrious woman of God for a wife.
In spite of my upbringing, he has groomed me into a Godly father of three beautiful boys; and yes, he is currently reconciling my dad and I, mending our relationship to it’s original intention. PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW! Amen & Hallelujah!
