Words We Need To Hear; (Excerpt from a spoken message by Jonathan David Helser)

I still can't quite figure out where to start in the blogging of my life and what God's been showing me these past 6 or 7 months since my last full entry. But I want to keep the momentum going by posting something. For this entry, I felt compelled to type up a segment from a spoken message from Jonathan David Helser entitled "Worship Echos".  It brought tears to my eyes and I wanted to share it with others. And if it brings you to check out Jonathan's music, then that's awesome too, because the Lord truly gifted that man with a beautiful voice. Without further ado:

"I had this really amazing experience with my daughter.  I have a little four year old, a little girl. Her name is Haven. My wife took her shopping for the first time a couple weeks ago, and she’s ruined for life. They’re on a mother and daughter shopping trip and she got back home with my wife.  I heard her little feet run upstairs and she put on this dress that she got to pick out herself. And she runs back into my bedroom and she stops in front me wearing this dress. It was one of those moments where everything just slows down. And I realized that I held the power as her father to define her in this moment. Her little heart was looking for definition. Her heart has a space inside of it that says, “tell me I’m beautiful.” And I hold the puzzle piece to put inside of her and complete her for this time in her life. And I looked at her and said “Haven, you look more beautiful right now than you’ve ever looked in your whole life.” And she just smiled and for the next week, every day she’d put on that dress. Literally. And a few days afterward, she’d come to me, and it didn’t matter what I was doing, if I was cooking, she’d come to me, and pause and wait. She wanted me to say it again. I’d be out working in the yard and she’d come to me and stop. “Tell me who I am, Daddy, tell me who I am.” That’s what her little spirit was saying. And me as her father, I have the hands to shape the clay of her heart.  Now one day, this is going to be sad, but one day, my words won’t be enough. She needs to hear those words from her real Father, her Father in Heaven. I’m just her temporary father. Until she steps into eternity and sees Him face to face. But on this earth she has the chance to hear Him say, “You are my beautiful daughter.” And if she hears that, and she believes that, she’ll be set for the rest of her life. Everything else is secondary for her hearing that, that’s the primary. The primary space in her heart that needs to be filled. And when she hears that, everything else will come into place. As a son, as a boy, as a man, we’re all looking for the voice that says “Well done. I don’t care if you struck out, I don’t care if you messed up, or if you succeeded or failed.  Well done, son.” You know what my son says to me almost more than any other thing? “Hey dad, watch this! Hey dad, watch! Watch!” He’s just waiting for me to approve of him. And as a son, if you hear those words “Well done” everything else settles in your life. Some of you maybe never had a father who was even there, some of you may have had an amazing dad who rejoiced over everything you did, even if you didn’t do it well, but there came a day where his smile wasn’t enough. There’s a space inside of you that had to be filled with the Father’s voice."