Dear Lord,

My earthly father is gone from me now, but You, my heavenly Father, are always with me. You are true and faithful forever. You do not change. I can depend on You, and You love me with an everlasting love.

Lord, I have yearned to know my earthly father and have been disappointed. My small attempts at establishing some kind of relationship, some father-child bond, have crumpled sadly at my feet. Yet, Lord, he is the man You have allowed to become my father, and because of this, I look to You to show me good and not evil, for Your Word says,

The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me;

Your love, O Lord, endures forever…

(Psalm 138:8)

In Romans 8:28, The Message, it says

We can be so sure that every detail in

our lives of love for God is worked

into something good.

So, I pray that You, my loving God and Father, for Whom nothing is too hard, will bring me hope and comfort, will heal my wounds and will bring…

beauty instead of ashes,

the oil of gladness instead of the oil of mourning,

and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

(Isaiah 61)

I thank You, O God, my Father, for my spiritual heritage. Thank for my mother, who has taken me to church, week after week, and has taught me to look to You for all my needs; who has loved and cherished me, nourished and nurtured me, and willingly given herself in countless ways to provide me with a secure and loving home life. Thank You for my Grandmother, who, even though I didn’t know her, taught her children to pray and attend church and to love others. I have heard that she trusted You as her Savior when she was a teenager, and tried to teach her children the way to God. The line of spiritual heredity goes back farther and branches out in other directions, and I trust You will reveal more of it to me as time goes on.

I thank You, too, dear Lord, for the father You gave to me. You alone know the heart of every person. You know the kind of childhood my father had; his hurts, his disappointments. You know the needs that may have been left unfulfilled, that influenced him to become the person that he was. I don’t need to imagine anything, Lord. I just need to give the unanswered questions to You.

Even there Your hand will guide me,

Your right hand will hold me fast.

(Psalm 139:10)

I do know that my father did not prevent my birth. He did not try to persuade my mother to abort me. I thank You that in his first response to me, He chose Your way – - and I was born by Your will to both my parents.

Oh, yes, You shaped me first inside, then out;

You formed me in my mother’s womb.

I thank You, High God – You’re breathtaking!

Body and soul, I am marvelously made!

I worship in adoration – what a creation!

You know me inside and out,

You know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, You watched me grow from conception to birth;

all the stages of mty life were spread out before You,

The days of my life all prepared

before I’d even lived one day

(Ps. 139:13-16, The Message)

I pray, dear Lord, that You will bestow on me every good trait that was a part of my dad, with every potential for good and for a blessed life that You Yourself instilled in him.

Heavenly Father, I bring to You now all the hurts, the wounds, the offenses and the unmet needs of my life. From the time I was a little child to the present day, I spread them before You as a scroll, the story of my sadness and pain. I need to recognize that You had Your hand on me through every painful time; You were with me every minute, helping me and bringing me through. Your faithfulness is great. Your mercies are new every morning.

Much of my hurt has been caused, directly or indirectly, by my earthly father. I need to put the blame where it belongs – on him. Whether all of this is accomplished quickly or over a period of time, I leave to You; I pray You will guide me.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

(Psalm 139:23, 24)

Finally, Lord, I believe Your way is the way of forgiveness and I want to now forgive my father for his offenses against me and his neglect of my well-being and happiness. Jesus, You forgave much when You hung on the cross that day, dying for all who would believe. You forgave every hurt, and You said that we, your children, should also forgive. I will to forgive my father and to put his offenses at your feet and leave them there with You. I want to put the past behind and move into the wonderful future You have for me, and so, Lord, I now forgive my father.

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing!

Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I thank You for having Your hand of blessing on me throughout my life.,

I am making a way in the desert

and streams in the wasteland,

to give drink to my people, my chosen,

the people I formed for myself,

that they may proclaim my praise.

Thank You for protecting me and for blessing me with a dear, loving family.

Thank You for healing me now.

In Jesus’ precious Name. Amen.