June held one of the top 10 moments of my life and I wanted to share it with you!

We do not remember days, we remember moments. – Cesare Pavese

Some moments in life hold a special kind of sweetness, and the moment I’m going to share with you was definitely one of the most precious I’ve experienced.

I’ve had the privilege of writing several articles for The Gospel Coalition this year. (Read past articles here and here) The Lord has been so gracious to me in allowing me to pair two things that I absolutely love – writing and adoption. About a month ago, I wrote a piece on Father’s Day and submitted it my contact at The Gospel Coalition. He let me know that they were going to run it the Thursday before Father’s Day. I hadn’t told my dad that I had written it.

On that Thursday morning, once it was published I called my Daddy.

“Daddy, I have a surprise for you!”

“What is it?”

“Your Father’s Day present is published on The Gospel Coalition today!”

He was driving when I called him, so he had to wait until he got back to his office to read it. When he called back, he told me how much it touched him. I cried and knew that he had cried. (Shh…don’t tell him that I told you that, even though I know he reads my blog!)

Things have been hard over the past month due to the sudden illness of one of my sisters. My Daddy has had a lot on his plate, between running his architectural firm, making sure that my sister has the proper care, I know he must be weary

It was such a sweet thing to surprise him with my piece. I wrote it from the heart as a letter from a daughter to her Daddy. As I penned the following words, it was a joy to be able to write to my father as his adoptive daughter. My favorite line is, “While biology says you weren’t my original father, love says something else. Blood is the least of what makes a family.”

Check it out below!

Dearest Daddy,

As America pauses to celebrate Father’s Day this Sunday, I acknowledge the painful reality that this holiday is difficult for many because of the absence of strong, godly fathers. 

But the Lord has seen fit to bless me with one of the greatest men I know to be my Daddy—you! While biology says you weren’t my original father, love says something else. Blood is the least of what makes a family. Godly love is the real lifeblood of a family. You have loved me like God the Father loved me. A lot of people ask if I’m interesting in meeting my “real” dad. What they mean is, “Do you want to meet your biological dad?”

Daddy, they just don’t seem to get it, do they?!

You are the one who traveled across the world to search me out. You are the one who gave up a comfortable life in order to give me a life. You are the one who rescued me.

I was an orphan, and you chose to call me your own.

I was fatherless, and you chose to be my father.

But most important you’ve chosen to love me.

You chose to love me the day you saw me and said, “That girl is mine! She’s my little girl now!” And you’ve chosen to love me every day since. I know that many times I haven’t been loveable, but I am your daughter, so you have committed to loving me well, even though I don’t deserve it.

”See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” 1 John 3:1

The most precious gift in my life is the heavenly Father choosing me, calling me his, and loving me. You have done the exact same thing. You have modeled the effects of the gospel to me. Because of your choice to adopt me and love me, I have a physical taste of what my spiritual adoption is like.

More important than adopting me and loving me, you have taught me the gospel with your words and illustrated it with your deeds, and as a result my eternity will be spent with our beloved Savior. You are an incredible father, and I am blessed beyond measure that you are the man the Lord saw fit to place in my life.

Thank you for attending all of my ballet recitals as a little girl. Thank you for discipling me and teaching me the godly way to live. Thank you for making sure that I heard the gospel regularly taught and saw it lived out. Thank you for allowing me to pour my heart out over a cup of coffee. Thank you for working hard to provide for the family. Thank you for being selfless.

Thank you for being my daddy.

Love,

Your daughter

** Read the original article on The Gospel Coalition here.