My daughter: I love you. You were a blessing to me before you were even born. God Himself chose you to be a girl, and I love that about you. Your femininity is perfect, and you were made to show the world a picture of the beauty of Jesus’ church. I adore you. You are beautiful. I have been watching you since the day you were born. I am your greatest fan and a dedicated student of you. I see who God made you to be, and it is wonderful. You are gifted. You are unique. You are talented. There is nobody like you!
I apologize, my daughter, for every time that I communicated anything less that this. For every time that I let you down, didn’t show up, or was silent when I should have spoken, I ask forgiveness. For every time when I made you feel sorry for who you are, I apologize. You deserve cheering from your father. You deserve all the counsel my years could produce. You deserve to have your hand held by a man who will protect you and lead you... And I have not always done that. Please understand, I was wounded, myself. I have been attacked, and I have made dark agreements with the enemy who has sought to destroy me, too. And I know I’ve passed some of those chains on to you through my actions as well as my inactivity. I did all I knew to do. Even when I was angry or short or condescending or stoic, I just did what I knew to do. That doesn’t make it all right, but I need you to understand me. Please forgive me for every way I have ever failed you—and I know that I have failed you.
I wish we could go back and you could crawl up into my lap and we could just talk about nothing while I play with your hair. I wish I could push you on a swing and buy you an ice cream cone. If you’ll receive it into your heart, I give you those things now. May God undo all the damage done by me; may He apply the salve of his grace on all those scars. And may you have the courage to forgive me and receive His love in all the places where my love lacked.
I give you my blessing, daughter. I bless you with the strength of womanhood. I bless you with the confidence that comes from knowing that you have a father who believes in you. I bless you with the radiance that comes from a pure heart that’s been washed by love. I bless you with joy that lets you laugh about the future. I bless you with a house full of peace, patience, and goodness. You are my daughter, and you are my delight.
I love you.
Thank you! I'm curious if this blessing portion from last night was included on Dora's tape? Also, where are the files of the classes that were recorded? I'd like to download them but not sure where they are. Thanks, Sherry
ReplyDeleteThanks Steven, I will take that it was for me... and will bless everyone else as well!
ReplyDeleteSherry,
ReplyDeleteThe blessing time was not recorded because the recorder ran out of batteries!
I'll send you a link when the recording is up.
Thanks for posting this Steven; tears well up in my eyes just reading this over again. Thanks for all the work you and didi pour into people; you might not ever know how deep it goes!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that Steven wrote this down and posted it! I was not able to make it to the talk last week because I was out of town, so I met with Becky today and she taught me from her notes. And, she read this blessing. My father took his own life a little over a year ago and one of the hardest things for me was that he did not leave a note or any explanation. When Becky read this to me, it was hard to hear, but I felt as if this is how he would have felt. I do not think I would have been ready for a note a year ago, and now I was ready for something like it. I know I have only begun to dig to the root of all this rejection stuff, but this blessings specifically was very important for me to hear. So, thank you Steven for writing it down
ReplyDelete