joyancejames

Tag: #parenthood #Fathersheart

  • Holding the Father’s Hands

    Currently, I’m enjoying the phase of my fatherhood where my daughter, Faith, forces me to always hold her hands when we’re outside home (Not sure if boy-dads/moms are as fortunate). I pray that God may spare me the parental phase when the child out grows the desire to hold hands, to be unhindered and free! When Faith holds my hands, she has a sense of security and I’ve a peace of mind that she is with me.
    When walking down the road, from my vantage point (~ 6 feet off the ground) I can see farther, envision any obstacles or difficulties along the way. While I deliberately reduce my stride to accomodate her distractions with the waywide flowers and child-like wonder, I know when to hold her back because a particularly appealing flower, unbeknown  to her grows on a thorn-bush. The childish ambition cries to run ahead in order to finish the walk but fatherly wisdom knows the long walk can’t afford energy expenditure on a sprint!

    Daddy-daughter walks

    The song writer Asaph recalles that even in the midst of his waywardness, he was still held by the hands that created him.
    Psalms 73:23-24 NLT
    [23] Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. [24] You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.

    https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.73.23-24.NLT

    To continually be held by Him is to acknowledge that “His way” is better.
    When all our peers say, “I want it that way” (courtesy Backstreet Boys); can we like another modern day Asaph (Forrest Frank) say,
    “Oh Lord, I need You now more than ever
    Would You put my heart back together
    I searched the world ’til my head hurt
    Just to find out Your way’s better”

    I want it “His way”!

    Isaiah 41:10, 13 NLT
    [10] Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
    [13] For I hold you by your right hand— I, the Lord your God. And I say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.
    When we walk side-by-side, it is usually my left hand and my daughter’s right hand or vice-versa.
    But here, a beautiful picture emerges, being held by the right hand of Yahweh, signifies His strength, righteousness and victory. In the subsequent verse Isaiah writes that He holds our right hand, implying when our strength is almost spent and we are at the end of our rope, He comes face to face and invites us to rely on His strength and might.

    May we never outgrow the desire to hold and be held by His hands!
    God bless!

  • Lessons from fatherhood – IV

    Clinging onto the Father

    My baby girl, Faith is almost 10 months, she’s always loved being carried around on her daddy’s arms. She would always hold on to our clothes whenever we pick her up but recently she started grasping, a tight-grasp as if hanging for life. If she fears someone is going to take her away from us (stranger-anxiety) or we are gonna put her down when she wants to be carried around, she will clinch on to my clothes so tightly that we’ve to break her grip first to put her down.
    A baby may think that it’s her cinch, her hold on her dad that’s preventing a fall but in actually it’s the dad’s hold on her that sustains the embrace.
    “Absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our master has embraced us.” Romans 8:39 (The Message)
    It’s not our strength or doing but His embrace that allows us to weather storms and uncharted waters.

    We’ve had a stormy weather past couple of days, with some heavy rains and thundering. Whenever there is a loud frightening thunder, Faith will hold on even so tightly and pull herself closer as if to sink in my embrace.
    This is something that Covid 19 did for the world; a study done in University of Copenhagen said that level of prayer searches (Google) in March 2020 was more than 50 per cent higher than the average during February 2020. The top English-language Bible on Google Play and App Store was installed almost two million times, the highest amount ever recorded for March, according to Appfigures.

    May the trials and storms of our lives push us closer to the heart of our Father, deeper into His embrace rather than pull us away. May our trials function to underscore our need for a savior, our Father. May they function to highlight the preposterousness of the delusions of our self sufficiency.

    God bless!

  • Lessons from fatherhood – III

    Father’s embrace

    I can’t think of a more opportune time to write this than now, when social distancing has deleted hugs and embrace from our daily life! Physical touch is of utmost significance for humans especially babies and this has been validated by tonnes of research.
    Faith has always been a sucker for my embrace, ever since she was a couple of weeks old. In the winters she needed me to pick her up, walk around and sing her to sleep. (Singing over Faith is featured in the post – Lessons from my fatherhood – I, https://joyancejames.wordpress.com/2020/01/31/lessons-from-fatherhood-i/; you can check it out of you haven’t)

    Mother’s embrace

    Soon she formed a habit which required me to carry her, walk around and put her to sleep at night and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Shalom and my mom used to tell that she’s addicted to my body heat and I’ve spoiled her by always carrying her at night.
    Few things in life are better than having your baby girl sleep on your chest, listening to your heart beat.

    Daddy’s embrace

    To the mankind starved of physical touch, hugs and embrace, Jesus invites us to fall into His arms. In this season of segregation and isolation it is natural to become lonely and depressed, but remember that there is an embrace that transcends distance and fears.

    “I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.”

    Romans 8:39 (Message Bible)

    Wherever you are may you always find yourself in the embrace of the Father above.

  • The journey of Faith – III

    The journey of Faith – III

    Faith is born- end of the beginning!As we entered the seventh month we realized that with every passing week it was getting more difficult to travel on the bike. Uber became the preferred mode of transport! Going out, movies included had to be curtailed to suit her comfort.
    We had to be extra careful as to what went it (I’m not taking only about food) so the food, fruits, music everything had to be handpicked.
    By July, the heat and humidity of Ludhiana became intolerable for Shalom and the countdown began to go home (Shalom’s) in Kerala. A “surprise” baby shower by our amazing friends (read aunties-to-be) at CRC (church) was the highlight of the last few days before we headed home. Last month before delivery I was away from Shalom and Faith as I had to come back to Ludhiana. Fetal movements and increased pains gave way to sleepless nights over the last week’s leading up to the delivery.
    I’d planned to reach them around a week before the due date, but thanks to the impatience of both of them I reached more than 12 hours after her arrival. Charis “Faith” Joyance was born on September the 4th, eleven days before the due date. Shalom endured her worst describable pain before she was born, it’s incredible how a mother goes through her worst pain before she gets her best gift.

    As I look back in retrospect, the journey is far from over. The journey of planned parenthood from conception to holding her in our arms, has really been a journey of faith for the two of us. It was a testament to the faithfulness of God.
    We may not enjoy every bit of the journey but it does prepare us for the destination, for what lies ahead. Grace for the journey comes with greater grace for what lies ahead. The God who saw our unformed substance in our mother’s womb, has seen our journey from a single cell organism to the trillion cell one reading this and He knows what’s best for us.