R
ronniefrank2003
Guest
This was part of a devotional that was sent ot me that I felt I should share with all my fellow standers.
Kind of makes you say "wow"
Ronnie.
"I recently came across a letter from a sixteen-year-old girl to her father. Just the week before, her father had come home and announced to his family that he was leaving them to move in with another woman. His wife and three children were in absolute shock. This guy was a church-going, solid citizen who had been happily married for nineteen years. And without warning, he walked in one night and destroyed everything that he and his wife had been carefully building for nearly two decades.
I would ask you to read this letter from his daughter slowly. She is a very articulate young lady. And she is a very intelligent young lady. She is also a grieving young lady. Listen to her reasoning as she tries to communicate with a father who is emotionally murdering his family. Listen as she attempts to find some common ground with her dad that will enable her to get into his mind and heart. I've been given permission to share her letter, but of course the names have been changed to protect the family's privacy:
Daddy,
I know that you were a really good football player. I can just picture the fans cheering for you. I would have been cheering, too, if I were there. What our family is going through now is kind of like a ball game.
This is the most important game. It is the championship game and everything rests on its outcome. You are the captain of our team and Tommy [her fourteen-year-old brother] is on the team. I am cheering for you on the sidelines. Mom and Ashley are the other cheerleaders. We are cheering for you, believing and trusting that you will do your best to not let us down. You have already done so much for us.
We have such a great team. We have tons of fans that love our team. They respect us and look up to us. They are always there for us, cheering us on.
Daddy, then something terrible happens in the game. When the play is run, there is a terrible collision of both teams on the sideline. We all got knocked down. It surprised us so badly. Many people were hurt. The players were slow getting up. The crowd was yelling. All of the cheerleaders were still down. Ashley has a broken leg. She was just lying there, still in shock. She didn't understand how this could happen to her wonderful team.
We had just been playing such a wonderful game. I was hit in the stomach and I can't catch my breath to call for help. I want to so badly though. Not being able to catch my breath makes my heart hurt. Pain is piercing all over my body. Mom is really hurt bad. She was crushed by one of the players. Several ribs were broken. One of them punctured her lungs and almost pierced her heart. I can barely tell if she's alive. She has taken the worst hit of all of us.
When the teams went back to the huddle, something very strange happened to you. It seems like you have hit your head really badly. I think you have a concussion. You are confused and can't see very well. You are walking around dazed. We were all watching you walk back to the huddle, but Daddy, you are going to the wrong huddle! You are walking to the wrong team! Tommy is yelling for you. He said, "Daddy, here we are over here!" All of your fans are screaming at you, saying, "Eric, come back to your team! You have to come back or we will lose the game." Ashley cries, "Daddy, can't you hear us?"
We need you on our team so badly. You must not hear us because you went to the other team. They start to do better for a while. Our team doesn't know what to do without you. Tommy is trying so hard, but he still needs you to coach him on the plays. Someone from our team says, "Where is your dad? Doesn't he know he is on the wrong team? We don't know what to do without him."
I am looking for help everywhere. I can't help Mom or Ashley on my own because I am hurt so badly myself. I see an ambulance, but I don’t know who has the keys. We are still on the field, cold and lonely. Mama is hurt so bad. Why doesn't help come?
We need help for you, because you are confused and you have gone to the other team.
We need help for Tommy, who is lost without you there to know what calls he should make.
We need help for Ashley, who can’t understand what happened to her wonderful team.
We need help for me, I am so sad. I don't have a reason to cheer without you.
And we need help for Mom, who may die because all she has ever worked for in her life is this team. She has put everything into it, and now all of a sudden she is robbed of it. She has no reason to go on living.
That is why I pray for help. Where could the help be?
Daddy, you are the only one who can help. You have the keys to the ambulance. You are the only one who can pick us up off the field and nurse us back to health. Can't you realize that? We need you.
I know you are hurt, Daddy. We want to help you because we still love you so much. We want you back on our team, please, Daddy! I am begging you. We can all help each other. That is what a family is for.
It is halftime. You have to make your decision soon. You have to know you can't play for both teams. It just won't work. Which team are you going to be the captain of? The team you created that loves you more than anything, or the team that confused you and made you think you were on the right team?
I wish I could do something to help you make the right decision. I would even die to save my daddy.
I am praying for you because I love you. Please do what it takes to come home and stay with us.
Your daughter,
Me.
This young girl is pleading with her father to have a brave heart. But unfortunately for her and her family, her father has a faint heart.
I don't know the circumstances that prompted her father to abandon them. But I imagine somewhere in his thinking was the concept that he needed his "freedom."
That sixteen-year-old girl has a broken heart. Her mother has a broken heart. Her brother and sister have broken hearts.
And why does this family have broken hearts? It's very clear-cut. This family is full of broken hearts because the man of their family is lacking a brave heart.
The principle is simple yet profound: Men who don't develop brave hearts break hearts."
--Steve Farrar (Anchor Man)
-----------------------------------
As most of you have learned, or are learning, placing your confidence in men - even spouses or parents - enables the enemy to shatter your confidence when they fail you. But there is One who will never leave you or forsake you. As devastating as it is to have the person who is so critical to your "team" begin playing for the other side, your Heavenly Father is more than able to sustain you. Keep your perspective on who is coaching your team. Remember that Midlife does cause "concussions" to the men (or women) you love... they are walking around dazed, confused and weary, with a faint heart. Keep playing! Keep believing in the one who knows the ENTIRE game plan. God doesn't leave your team when the going gets tough.... He will enable you to endure!
Kind of makes you say "wow"
Ronnie.
"I recently came across a letter from a sixteen-year-old girl to her father. Just the week before, her father had come home and announced to his family that he was leaving them to move in with another woman. His wife and three children were in absolute shock. This guy was a church-going, solid citizen who had been happily married for nineteen years. And without warning, he walked in one night and destroyed everything that he and his wife had been carefully building for nearly two decades.
I would ask you to read this letter from his daughter slowly. She is a very articulate young lady. And she is a very intelligent young lady. She is also a grieving young lady. Listen to her reasoning as she tries to communicate with a father who is emotionally murdering his family. Listen as she attempts to find some common ground with her dad that will enable her to get into his mind and heart. I've been given permission to share her letter, but of course the names have been changed to protect the family's privacy:
Daddy,
I know that you were a really good football player. I can just picture the fans cheering for you. I would have been cheering, too, if I were there. What our family is going through now is kind of like a ball game.
This is the most important game. It is the championship game and everything rests on its outcome. You are the captain of our team and Tommy [her fourteen-year-old brother] is on the team. I am cheering for you on the sidelines. Mom and Ashley are the other cheerleaders. We are cheering for you, believing and trusting that you will do your best to not let us down. You have already done so much for us.
We have such a great team. We have tons of fans that love our team. They respect us and look up to us. They are always there for us, cheering us on.
Daddy, then something terrible happens in the game. When the play is run, there is a terrible collision of both teams on the sideline. We all got knocked down. It surprised us so badly. Many people were hurt. The players were slow getting up. The crowd was yelling. All of the cheerleaders were still down. Ashley has a broken leg. She was just lying there, still in shock. She didn't understand how this could happen to her wonderful team.
We had just been playing such a wonderful game. I was hit in the stomach and I can't catch my breath to call for help. I want to so badly though. Not being able to catch my breath makes my heart hurt. Pain is piercing all over my body. Mom is really hurt bad. She was crushed by one of the players. Several ribs were broken. One of them punctured her lungs and almost pierced her heart. I can barely tell if she's alive. She has taken the worst hit of all of us.
When the teams went back to the huddle, something very strange happened to you. It seems like you have hit your head really badly. I think you have a concussion. You are confused and can't see very well. You are walking around dazed. We were all watching you walk back to the huddle, but Daddy, you are going to the wrong huddle! You are walking to the wrong team! Tommy is yelling for you. He said, "Daddy, here we are over here!" All of your fans are screaming at you, saying, "Eric, come back to your team! You have to come back or we will lose the game." Ashley cries, "Daddy, can't you hear us?"
We need you on our team so badly. You must not hear us because you went to the other team. They start to do better for a while. Our team doesn't know what to do without you. Tommy is trying so hard, but he still needs you to coach him on the plays. Someone from our team says, "Where is your dad? Doesn't he know he is on the wrong team? We don't know what to do without him."
I am looking for help everywhere. I can't help Mom or Ashley on my own because I am hurt so badly myself. I see an ambulance, but I don’t know who has the keys. We are still on the field, cold and lonely. Mama is hurt so bad. Why doesn't help come?
We need help for you, because you are confused and you have gone to the other team.
We need help for Tommy, who is lost without you there to know what calls he should make.
We need help for Ashley, who can’t understand what happened to her wonderful team.
We need help for me, I am so sad. I don't have a reason to cheer without you.
And we need help for Mom, who may die because all she has ever worked for in her life is this team. She has put everything into it, and now all of a sudden she is robbed of it. She has no reason to go on living.
That is why I pray for help. Where could the help be?
Daddy, you are the only one who can help. You have the keys to the ambulance. You are the only one who can pick us up off the field and nurse us back to health. Can't you realize that? We need you.
I know you are hurt, Daddy. We want to help you because we still love you so much. We want you back on our team, please, Daddy! I am begging you. We can all help each other. That is what a family is for.
It is halftime. You have to make your decision soon. You have to know you can't play for both teams. It just won't work. Which team are you going to be the captain of? The team you created that loves you more than anything, or the team that confused you and made you think you were on the right team?
I wish I could do something to help you make the right decision. I would even die to save my daddy.
I am praying for you because I love you. Please do what it takes to come home and stay with us.
Your daughter,
Me.
This young girl is pleading with her father to have a brave heart. But unfortunately for her and her family, her father has a faint heart.
I don't know the circumstances that prompted her father to abandon them. But I imagine somewhere in his thinking was the concept that he needed his "freedom."
That sixteen-year-old girl has a broken heart. Her mother has a broken heart. Her brother and sister have broken hearts.
And why does this family have broken hearts? It's very clear-cut. This family is full of broken hearts because the man of their family is lacking a brave heart.
The principle is simple yet profound: Men who don't develop brave hearts break hearts."
--Steve Farrar (Anchor Man)
-----------------------------------
As most of you have learned, or are learning, placing your confidence in men - even spouses or parents - enables the enemy to shatter your confidence when they fail you. But there is One who will never leave you or forsake you. As devastating as it is to have the person who is so critical to your "team" begin playing for the other side, your Heavenly Father is more than able to sustain you. Keep your perspective on who is coaching your team. Remember that Midlife does cause "concussions" to the men (or women) you love... they are walking around dazed, confused and weary, with a faint heart. Keep playing! Keep believing in the one who knows the ENTIRE game plan. God doesn't leave your team when the going gets tough.... He will enable you to endure!
