The Father’s Blessing By Kerstin Hering
ave you but one blessing my father? Bless me, even me also, o my father” (Gen. 27:38). Esau’s plea resonates with each one of us. We are made to desire and thrive on our father’s blessing. When this blessing is withheld, we lack the foundation on which to build our lives, develop an unhealthy and faulty view of ourselves, our role in life and of others around us. Without this blessing we fall for the lie that something is wrong with us and that we will never measure up. “Am I loved? Am I life? Will I be abandoned?” These are the questions which haunt those who have never heard words of love and acceptance from their fathers. How often do we approach God as if He were Isaac and we were Esau? “Don’t you also have a blessing for me?” “Sorry, fresh out.” This is how our conversation with God unfolds in our minds. This was certainly my way of thinking and I did all I could, trying to earn His approval. I threw myself into Christian ministries to the point of exhaustion, working alongside my husband, J., as a World Witness missionary in Europe. during our four-year assignment in Scotland. God added six more children to our quiver after our move to the US in 2003. Holding each new baby was bittersweet. My desire to love, protect and provide for these little people stood in stark contrast to my fa- ther’s words and actions towards me. With each birth I learned anew to lay down my bitterness before the Lord and choose for- giveness. Strangely my sadness over my father’s neglect only in- birth. Despite my choice to for- give, the pain was undiminished. The lack I had experienced as a child was still affecting me. What I had missed all these years was
H
my father’s blessing, and I longed to receive it in order to feel complete and valuable.
My healing came when God opened my eyes to His truth. He spoke to me through Ephesians 1:3-14, revealing that I had already been blessed with every spiritual blessing. I suddenly realized that this was not something I needed to strive for in hopes of receiving. God the Father has already blessed me with every single blessing a father could speak over his child. He had blessed me by bestowing me with value, a sense of belonging, forgive- ness, and a relationship with Him; He promised to provide me with everything I needed, and His word - cepted and desired. I was set free to start becoming who God meant for me to be.
Kerstin Hering was born in Australia and raised in Germany, where she met her husband, J. They worked together as World Witness missionaries in Germany and Scotland for 6 years. Kerstin is the Director of Operations of Crossroads Pregnancy Center in Greenwood, SC. Her passion is to see how God takes our ashes and changes them into something beautiful. She is the author of the Bible study, “The Father’s Blessing.”
Helping Christians Grow 20 The Associate Reformed Presbyterian
Christian Education Ministries
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32
