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And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
Galatians 4:6 (ESV)

“I take good care of you, Kathy.”

Those are words I will never forget.

There was a day when I most certainly was not at my best. Remembering that day brings such sadness to my heart.

I know we all have those moments that seem to haunt us. We call them regrets, and the enemy loves to take us back to those times.

Though I cannot remember why I was so stirred up or the things I said to my husband, Steve, I will always remember the look on his face when he turned to me and said, “I take good care of you, Kathy.”

Instantly, I stopped in my tracks, and such sorrow and true guilt filled my heart. Knowing he spoke the truth, I apologized to him instantly. He never said another word but continued to walk away from me.

Steve forgave me because he forgave easily, but he reminded me of something so important that day.

He ALWAYS took good care of me.

God has supplied my great needs in every season, and He has used earthly gifts to do that.

A man I called “Daddy.”

I remember as a young child waking in the night, so afraid. My only thought was to get to my daddy, leaving that bed, driven by fear to get to him in my parents’ bedroom. Though he was tired from his day, many nights working through terrible storms, he would pick me up, hold me for a minute, and return me to that bed I had just escaped from.

There was a calm assurance in my child’s heart that I was safe because my daddy was right there with me.

I wish I could say that I always remembered that my daddy was close and that knowledge kept me in my bed through the stormy nights, but many times he made that trip back to my bed with me.

I grew up and left that wonderful home of safety and security when I married my husband, Steve.

How many times did our husbands take care of us through the things they did for us personally, out of great love for us — as well as the things around us that we never gave much thought to until they were gone.

Steve knew me so well – better than anyone else on this earth…

But he could not know me, as my Father, my Abba Father, knows me.

In this season of widowhood, I have learned about my Abba Father and have found the close, intimate relationship of a father and his child, a trust like the trust I put in my daddy such a long time ago.

The years have passed and many things have changed. I am no longer that child who feared the darkness so. There are other things that bring fear to my heart and mind today.

I have said goodbye to the daddy who protected me in the night and to my best friend, my husband, who took my hand from my daddy’s and watched over me for almost 44 years.

Questions have filled my heart at times, “Who will take care of me now?”

I stop and wonder how it would feel to look into the eyes of my Abba Father and hear Him say, “I take good care of you, Kathy.” Would there be shame as there was that day with Steve?

As on that day so long ago, standing with Steve, I need to be reminded of Who takes such good care of me.

We can trust our Abba Father.

Trust in the One who knows you best. To take care of someone, you must know their needs and know them well. Who could know us better than the One who created us and knew us in our mother’s womb?

No one knows how deep our pain is in the loss of our husbands, our best friends – except our Abba Father.

There is no need to find the words to describe what our hearts feel in this great loss or to look for comfort and help anywhere else but Him.

Just as He has always been with us, He will always be!

Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Psalm 100:3 (NKJV)

We can find a calm assurance that we are safe because our Abba Father is with us.

Dear Abba Father, please pull me into Your arms and let me rest there for a while. Hold me close and let Your love and strength cover and fill me. Let me feel the heartbeat of my living God, my Abba Father. As a child, I found comfort in my earthly daddy, and then my husband, a wonderful gift from You – Let me rest now in comfort and peace only You can give. Amen