The Dad Who Danced with His Daughter is a portion of a quote I read in Abby McDonald’s book “Surrendering Certainty,” and I’m pondering it with you today.
For Lent 2025, I’ll be writing new blog posts every day. I’m writing for only five unedited minutes on a quote of the day to deepen our faith in this Lenten season.
Day 13 of Lent 2025 – March 17
I’m proud to be the book launch manager for Surrendering Certainty, Abby McDonald’s upcoming book. She sent me a preview copy I’m happy to be reading now. You can learn more about the book and join the team for the launch HERE.
The context for this quote is Zephaniah 3:17 NIV:
“The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
When she was a tween, Abby heard four words from a spiritual leader that affected her deeply: “You can’t please God.” This phrase had a negative impact on her faith. God worked to redeem that misunderstanding in her life. She says,
“My journey to see God as someone who delighted in me was a slow and sometimes painful one. When you haven’t confided in God in years, it takes some major mindset shifts to bring you to a place where it feels natural to do so.”
After her first child was born, God wooed her back to him. That’s where today’s quote originates – “Instead of being the distant Father I couldn’t please, he became the Dad who danced with his daughter.” What a beautiful word picture!
The Dad Who Danced with His Daughter
One of the reasons my healing journey has been so difficult in the past three years is that I was already so close to God before my life fell apart. Many people find or rediscover God after divorce, but I was already super close to him. You can listen to my journey of drawing close to God the Father, then God the Spirit, then God the Son in my friend Eric’s interview with me HERE. In it, you will learn why Song of Songs 8:3 was so meaningful to me.
The intense pain that God allowed in my life felt like such betrayal after being so close to him. As a lifelong victim of abuse, the pain God allowed in my life felt custom-fit to hurt me in my most sensitive areas. Only someone who knew me very well would understand why the hurts felt so customized. That’s how abusers act – they prey on your vulnerability and intimacy, then hurt you intentionally in the most tender places. So my mind and heart have been hijacked by those relationship dynamics by people with evil intent.
Trusting the Dad Who Danced with His Daughter
In this recovery stage, I’m learning to trust God again. From decades of being a Christian, and also from reading the Bible all the way through 18+ times, I know without doubt that God’s unchanging character is nothing like that of an abuser. However, what I know in my head to be unquestionably true has to move to my battered heart, and that will require time.
Trust always takes time to rebuild. I need to dare to trust again one day at a time in my relationship with God. I want to trust him as a loving father delighting so much in me as his daughter that he rejoices over me with singing. I’m thankful that Abby’s book pointed me toward that beautiful picture upon which I can focus as I take daily steps to trust him more each day.
Join me again tomorrow for another reflection on a different quote. I encourage you to reflect on a special gift God has given you and let me know about it in the comments.
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