How can I embrace God as my Heavenly Father when I struggle in a relationship with my earthly father?
Those of us with paternal wounds may struggle to connect with God, the Creator, as our Heavenly Father — Why, and how can we bridge this gap?
Early in my adult life, I struggled with the idea of God as a Father. I’d often heard Him referred to as a Heavenly Father, but felt disconnected to this design and didn’t understand why.
I had never experienced the unconditional love of a father, and so I resisted Him.
The few memories I have of my natural father while we were still a family, are of drug abuse, alcoholism, and violence toward my mother. We escaped the abusive relationship when I was approximately six years old, and I saw him less than a handful of times throughout my youth.
My mother left my father with the help of a neighbor, and he became my stepfather overnight. Early in their relationship, I overheard my stepfamily say that he was not my father. Other children in the family then repeated this statement, and I accepted the idea as truth; after all, I knew that somewhere in the world, I had a “real father” — my biological father, although he wasn’t a part of my life.
