To Know Him is To Love Him.

A girls first love should always be her daddy.

I say should because I know a lot of girls don’t get the opportunity to know their earthly daddy, but man I sure hit the jackpot of God’s goodness with my earthly daddy. He’s loved me almost 25 years now, but I get to say I’ve loved him my whole life. He is the absolute BEST man I know. And I don’t just say that because he’s my dad and deserves the obligated #1 Dad button on a cheesy fathers day cards. I say it because without a shadow of a doubt do I honestly adore and cherish the father I have. Just a little background to his life: he has lost both a brother and a sister, both who had families of their own. He lost his father 6 years ago, and this January he lost his mother. I don’t say that to give Dad pity or sympathy but to showcase how STRONG and amazing he is. He had so many valid reasons to question God’s faithfulness and sovereignty but each time tragedy struck he struck back on his knees. When I say I want a man just like my dad I genuinely mean that with my whole heart. I don’t want a man just like him minus the dad shoes, or a man just like him but this little thing added. No. I want someone JUST like him. He is patient, kind, forgiving, trusting, understanding, outdoorsy, athletic, handy. He is a family man and treats my momma so good. Y’all I could go on and on. Women say the perfect man doesn’t exist but that’s because momma Sandie swooped him up before anyone else found out he was out there: Don Beaddles.

My dad pushes me and challenges me to my core yet still has his soft gentle touch of a daddy when I need it. He knows how to irk me and push me to my limits but he knows how to be the first to apologize and accept blame when it isn’t on him. He is just a living human of Jesus and the love the Father has for us. I wish I could share a piece of Don’s heart with everyone and every girl because I know without a shadow of a doubt he is the reason I know my worth and know what I’m capable of. He makes me feel beautiful and important. And to any girl reading this without an earthly father, I don’t write this to make you bitter or resentful but I write this to tell you while the man who should have stepped up and been a father to you, or the man who was taken too soon from you…there is a man out there who wants to show you your worth and I pray with everything in me you find him. And I pray you find the Father above in this time of earthly absence of your daddy. To know Don is to love him. I kid you not, every one of my friends loves him after merely 10-minute interactions with him. Don Beaddles, Daddy, my first love…you are amazing and I know you have subscription to my blogs on your iPad and I hope you stumble across this one on a day where you need to hear how LOVED YOU ARE.