“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20 ESV)

From Tears to Tiaras

I was recently invited to the Walter Hoving Home in Pasadena, California to share the Blessing of the Father with women. My sweet cousin Jeanne arranged a special meeting with the director and had also bought Tiaras for all the 38 female residents. This was my first time ministering to a women’s recovery home so I was not certain just what I would find or what to expect. The home is a faith-based rehabilitation center for women involved in prostitution, drugs, alcohol and abusive circumstances encountered at the hands of cruel men. By entering this program they are able to escape the streets and a life that has shattered their hearts.

From the first worship song, these girls poured themselves out to Jesus in gratitude and worship. It reminded me of the woman who fell before Jesus and began to wash His feet with her tears, and wipe them with her hair. When rebuked by the religious people, Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”(Luke 7:47–48 ESV).

Following worship, I began sharing the message about the love and blessing of their Father in Heaven. As the loving presence of Jesus filled that room, tears became audible sobs. One woman I met had just a few teeth left. During an evening in a drug-induced tirade, she pulled out most of her teeth with pliers. She had been beaten, abused, neglected, and enslaved to a life of drug addiction. All their stories had a similar theme . . . the absence of a dad in their life; “My father left me when I was young”, "My dad was in prison" or "My dad was there, but never really present.” Many of them chose broken men to marry, thinking they could fix the men and hoping these men would fill the void of love from their fathers. I saw firsthand that day how damaging it is to a girl not to have a loving father in her life.

After my message, each girl was asked to climb to the top of the stairs of a beautiful walnut staircase. One by one as the girls ascended, Jeanne and her team put tiaras on their heads. As they descended, I stood at the bottom ‘blessing’ each girl with the blessing their fathers would have given them if they had known Jesus. One by one, the affirming power of the Father’s words transformed these broken girls into the women the Father had designed them to be.

To say it was awesome would be an understatement. What broke my heart that day was the knowledge that I might be the first man in their lives who was not coming to them with selfish intentions and to take something from them. On the other hand I was able to give them something—the blessing of God the Father—releasing them into the healthy adult womanhood that was their destiny under Christ.

Just when we thought we had wiped away the last tear, Jeanne’s ministry team stood up and said, “We want to be blessed too!” These women came from influential families in Southern California and had little social or economic similarities to the women living in the Walter Hoving Home. "I want what my dad didn't or couldn't give me, too!”

Before I could say anything, one of the women from the Hoving home who had just been given a tiara, took it off of her head, and walked up the stairs and said, "Why don't you take mine?" One by one, the Blessing of the Father that had eluded these gals healed something deep in their heart. All any girl wants is to have her dad be the first man to love and bless her.

By the end of that day, women from vastly different ends of the life spectrum came together and shared a common experience—the love and delight of their Father in heaven. In one life-changing moment, they began to understand when Jesus said, “I am the way (To the Father), I am the truth (About the Father), and I am the Life (In the Father).”

Your support Beloved is sending us out to those who have been stuck in life without knowing what it is like to be completely loved. I have included a video from that special day on the replay video on the left. Grab your tissues.

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My Prayer For You

Father, I am thankful You never gave up on me when I was rotten.  As a matter of fact, I could feel Your loving presence pursuing me, even when I was at my worse.  Give me the grace to love my kids even though I am hurt, to pursue them when they run away, to give to them when they don’t earn it, to speak life into them when I am empty, and to embrace them when they come home broken, in the name of Jesus.

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