One Sunday morning I was in prayer before service.  I had a CD playing like I usually do during my prayer time.  Falling in Love With Jesus began to play and I began to reminisce of the times I was reassured by God that I was in His arms.  God took me on a journey back to through my life and starting all the way back to the story I heard my Dad tell many times… I was around 2 years of age and was outside playing.  I began to scream at the top of my lungs like I was being attacked.  My Dad ran to the door to see what was going on. I was running down the sidewalk back towards my house and behind me was a huge dog that was taller than me.  He was trotting along behind me as I ran toward my Dad.  The dog wasn’t trying to hurt me. He just wanted to play with me.  When my dad picked me up, all the fear I had melted away.  I looked my dad and said, “See the big dog Daddy?”. The fear was gone because I was safe in Daddy’s arms. You see at such a young age I was learning that when I stay in Daddy’s arms I am safe.  I began to relate this to God and how thankful I was to know this little story because I knew that if my human Dad could keep me safe, my heavenly Daddy would keep me safe. 

As I thought about this story I began to think of the times God has specifically shown me how safe I am in Him. I then remembered as a young teenager of my Dad being out of work in the early 1980’s. My mother was working but it wasn’t enough to pay all the bills.  My mother always tried to pay the bills so that we had a place to stay with heat and water before anything else.  This resulted in us not having much to eat in the house at that time.  One day we had a family that came to visit us unexpectedly. They lived out of state and were passing through on their way to vacation.  They visited us for a few minutes and left.  About 5-10 minutes later, there was a knock at the door and the wife was at the door.  This family did not know of our financial needs and that we were without food.  She said they felt like God wanted them to give us part of their vacation money. When I heard this my young heart was overwhelmed with emotion.  I ran to the back door so no one would notice as the tears began to flow.  You see at that moment I knew my family and I were safe in “Daddy’s arms” and at that moment I knew those arms as my provider.

I began to think about the time when I had an accident several years ago.  I was on my way to a staff meeting at the church I was attending. Someone turned left in front of 3 lanes of traffic. I was in the far right lane and I was the one who hit the car. I hit the car so hard it turned the car completely around into another lane and caused my SUV to veer to the right and go over a guard rail onto another road.  No one was hurt very badly which I thank God for.  I didn’t realize how much God was with me until a few weeks later.  I heard on the news that Firestone was recalling all of the tires that were put on Ford Explorers because they were causing the SUVs to flip or turn over causing severe accidents with injuries and even death.  You see it would have been very easy for that SUV to turn over or flip the way I went over the guard and better yet no traffic was on the road that I ended on.  The song was now saying, “In His arms, I feel so protected, In His arms never disconnected… Tears began to flow once again as I remember that at that moment I knew my daddy’s arms as my protector.  

The Lord then lead me to a time about 4 years ago, I was having physical problems.  Many tests were done before they realized I had a fibroid tumor that was causing my problems.  It wasn’t a simple tumor that could be removed and everything would be ok.  The only reassurance I had was that they could go in and take off what was protruding and hope that it was be a long time before it came back.  The ultimate treatment would be a hysterectomy.  Of course I was devastated that I may have to go through such a major surgery. I was too young, I felt, to go through this.  My procedure was schedule on a Monday morning.  The Sunday before, my husband had preached a healing message.  He told all of us there that day to raise our hands and he would pray one prayer over all of us. I was on the platform and knew that God could still heal me of this problem. I felt such a strong presence come into the sanctuary.  I knew God had touched me but how much I didn’t know.  My husband took me to the hospital the next morning and I had the procedure done. The surgeon came out to let my husband know that she was finished. She said everything was fine. My husband questioned her about the fibroid tumor. She said there was no fibroid tumor. He replied "Yes, Tammy said there was a fibroid tumor". She once again assured him there was no fibroid tumor.  In his mind he thought maybe he misunderstood what was wrong with me or maybe I had the medical terms mixed up. They brought him to the recovery room where I was and when I started waking up, my husband leaned over, kissed me and said, “The doctor said there was no fibroid tumor”.  I remember at that moment even though I was really groggy how the tears began to pour out of my eyes.  My husband knew then that there was no mistake.  You see at that moment, once again, my Daddy’s arms were ones of a healer.

I am so thankful that God showed me at that moment one Sunday morning just how much of a “Daddy” He had been to me at some of the most difficult times in my life.  Today I honor the one true God who is the center of my life. He has stuck closer to me than anyone has or ever will. Happy Father’s Day, Jesus!