Last summer,  I gave you four things to love about being God’s daughter. But that blog only touched the surface. There was so much more to say. Now that Father’s Day is coming up, I want to encourage your heart with what you have in a Heavenly Father.

I realize many women did NOT experience a warm, loving relationship with their father and perhaps  you don’t look forward to Father’s Day or maybe it brings up hurtful feelings. So please let me encourage your heart with six things to love about being God’s precious daughter. He’s the perfect Father who will never let you down. See if you agree…

1. He will never walk out on you or me.

Many women grew up with a father who left, emotionally or physically. But that will never happen when it comes to our Heavenly Father. God promised, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). And in Psalm 139:7-12 we are assured there is no place we can go where His loving presence will not follow. Even if everyone you’ve ever loved or depended upon has walked out on you, your Heavenly Father never will. He’s a Daddy who will go the distance with His daughter.

2. He always has our backs.

Psalm 139 not only assures us that God’s loving presence will never leave, but it elaborates on the detail with which God protects us and has our backs. In verse 5, the psalmist said, “You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.” And in Psalm 71, an inspired songwriter said, “My mouth will tell of your righteous deeds, of your saving acts all day long—though I know not how to relate them all.”

Imagine how many times your Heavenly Daddy has rescued you throughout the day and you weren’t even aware of it. No personal bodyguard, best friend, boyfriend, husband, or secret-service agent can watch your back or rescue you like that. A loved daughter of God can truly sing the words of Psalm 4:8: “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” That is true security and protection. And that is a Daddy who goes before me, walks alongside me, and always has my back. (Don’t miss my story in the first chapter of The New Loneliness about how our God is better than anyone at always watching out for us.)

3. You and I can tell Him anything.

Do you ever want to pour out your heart to someone but you’re not sure how it will be received? Will you say it right? Will it be misunderstood? Will you be rejected for it? You never have to worry about that with your Heavenly Father. Psalm 62:8 tells us, “Trust in Him at all times… Pour out your hearts before Him; God is a refuge for us” (NASB).

How wonderful that I can vent to Him and He can handle it. (Lately, I haven’t even wanted to vent, because I know, without a doubt, that He knows what He’s doing and what He’s allowing and I believe He prefers my quiet trust in Him.) You and I don’t have to worry that He will judge, condemn, reject or misunderstand anything we say.

4. He knows you and me intimately.

When I was a child, my mother used to say, “I know you better than you know yourself.”  How can anyone know us better than we know ourselves? We tend to hide so much and there are so many layers to who we are. Yet, I find it comforting to know that there is One who knows me better than I will ever know myself and that is my Creator, Sustainer, Savior, and Father God. He is the only One who knows the motives and intentions of my heart. And that means He never misjudges me or thinks ill of me, even when my motives are wrong.

David, the songwriter who knew God intimately, said in Psalm 139 that God searches us and knows us. He knows when we sit and rise and perceives our thoughts from a far. He discerns why we do things and is familiar with all our ways (verses 1-3). He created our inmost being, knit us together in our mothers’ wombs as He molded us together in the secret place, saw our unformed bodies, and planned all our days before they came to be (verses 14-16).  Now that is a Daddy who knows you and me from the inside out. And yet He still chooses to love us.

5. He will never withdraw His love.

We live in a world in which people come and go. Feelings change. Promises are broken. Divorce happens. And yet, God tells us most assuredly in His Word that His love is unlike anything we’ve experienced on this earth. Not only will He never leave us, but He promises, regardless of our actions or circumstances, that His love is here to stay

In Jeremiah 31:3, God pledged His love for those who follow His Son when He said, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you out with kindness” (NASB). And in Romans 8:38-39 He makes sure we know that nothing we—or anyone else—could do will ever separate us from His enduring love. That is the love of a Daddy for His daughter. And that is a love that is yours too.

6. He has secured my future—and yours.

Some people fret about what kind of an inheritance their family might leave them. Yet, I never have to worry about that. My future and my inheritance are all about Whose child I am, eternally. Psalm 16 assures me that my Heavenly Father will provide for me throughout this lifetime and in the one to come when it says, “Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance” (verses 5-6).

Ephesians 1:3-14 gives me just a glimpse of the inheritance I have now in Christ Jesus, not just one day future when I’ll live in His presence. He has not only “blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (verse 3) but also extends those blessings to our lives on earth as we walk in His will. I never have to shake my head and say “It’s all who you know” when it comes to getting the call, or obtaining the job, or securing that promotion. Because my Heavenly Daddy is God, I know the One who can open any door, secure any deal, break down any wall, and divide any sea. He’s the best agent, boss, or bodyguard I could ever have. He gives His daughters a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11) and calls them His beloved. If you ever start to feel badly about the family you were born into, or the dysfunction in which you were raised, you have a new lineage in Christ Jesus and that makes you a daughter of the best Daddy there is.

What is your favorite thing about being God’s daughter? Let me know in the comment section below.

For more on growing in an intimate relationship with God to where you can call Him “Daddy,” see Cindi’s books, Letting God Meet Your Emotional Needs, When God Sees Your Tears, and The New Loneliness.