Ghosts

Do you ever have one of those moments where all your enemies or demons or (whatever you want to call them) come rushing at you all at once?  It's like some action movie scene that converges all at once and there you are surrounded by the enemy... and for several moments, there's the face off -- everyone waiting for the other to make the first move.  

That's what it felt like this weekend going back home -- some weird stand-off and I'm the one in the middle of the scrum.  It was already bad enough that I was home because my grandmother was hospitalized... It was already bad enough that Hero and I had to travel the 6 hours trip alone... It was already bad enough  that we wouldn't be able to spend Father's Day with my husband... It was bad enough that it was Father's Day...

A few years ago, Mother's Day and Father's Day would put me in the bed with a sick headache... my dad left us over Mother's Day weekend years ago.  And even though many years have passed, I found myself Saturday night, standing in the bathroom of the house that I grew up in, staring at myself in the mirror like I did when I was 17, thinking about the events of 2000.  I've physically changed quite a bit, but I realized that I still struggle with the same demons.  Now, don't get me wrong, Jesus has done a huge work in my life...  He's brought me light-years from where I used to be... but Saturday night, all the conditions were right for me to have a pity party.  

But as I stood there, washing my face, thinking about the sad events of my life, the Lord brought this verse to mind...
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15 (NIV)

Wow, how amazing.

So while man has rejected me, the God of the universe adopted me... and this isn't a foster care situation where I'm gonna be plucked from this home one day.... I am His... He's claimed me as His own... I call Him, "Daddy."