Thankful For My Fathers This Father's Day!

As Father's Day is approaching I wanted to do a little post about the Father's in my life who I am extremely blessed with and grateful for...

1. My Grandfather, or Grandaddy as better known in our family. Although he has been home with the Lord for about 4 months now, he was such an influential part in my life. He and my Mema, I believe, are the foundation to our family. We were overwhelmingly blessed with a heritage that was filtrated with testimonies of God's abundant grace and love. He accepted Christ as a young man, led his family following godly instruction, and served his community in his ministry. He left all of us trusting that the Lord would lead us all to Him, understanding we were useless without Christ indwelling in our hearts. I am very proud to have been a witness and beneficiary to his service and ministry sacrifices.

2. My Father-in-Law. At times it is a strange, awesome, and difficult thing to embed yourself into someone else's family, however I am extremely privileged to have been given a family who are welcoming, kind, and insanely generous to me. My [future] father-in-law is a precious man. Just in the short time I've been a part of the Johnson family, he has welcomed me as a daughter so unassumingly. Bless his heart, he takes the time each evening to make me a sausage biscuit for my breakfast the next day... is that not the sweetest?! I'm so excited to join into this family, and enjoy many years of growing with the family, watching him play with grandchildren (Lord willing:), and being a daughter to him that he never had (and after knowing me for long, probably thankful he never had a daughter, haha).

3. My Dad, or Daddio as a jokingly call him sometimes. My Dad... he's the man I still call first if my car breaks down. He's the one I want to boast my independence after cleaning out the bathroom pipes, or mowing the lawn, or after tasting a new coffee flavor that I think he'd enjoy. My Dad and I were not close growing up, mostly to my obnoxious teenage attitude, but the last few years have been beneficial to our relationship. Sometimes when I watch my future husband work on a project, he does it in a way that reminds me of how my Dad would do it, and it makes me teary that I have a Dad that I can be proud of, as well as that I found someone who reminds me of him. My Dad is brilliant, not only in mental intelligence (which I still think he secretly works for the CIA, President, or someone really important like Donald Trump) but in the way he handles difficult circumstances. Much of it is probably maturity and experience, but my Dad would never brag about the gracious way he calms during difficult times or the kindness he bestows on others. I've loved the fun memories of my Dad. Here are just a few:

*Years of listening to him play guitar while singing the "Drunken Sailor" song

*Watching me almost break my neck on the 4 wheeler

*Building me a balance beam in the back yard during my gymnastic phase

*Embarrassing the heck out of me on my 16th birthday, telling the cute waiter that I was "16 and never been kissed" and then proceeding to have ALL the hot waiters to come to the table to offer the 1st kiss. Ugh... maybe that's not a good memory... they were cute though:)

*Taking me on a fancy father/daughter date after a tough breakup

*Surprising me with a shiny red mustang to drive for my senior year banquet

*Picking out every car I've ever owned

*Helping me move from my home to college in TN for 4 summers, then from VA to my apartment in TN, apartment to house(...lots and LOTS of moving)

*Giving his blessing to my future husband AFTER taking him to a gun show:)

I'm also looking forward to my Dad walking me down the aisle on my wedding day, teaching his future grandson how to hunt/fish/golf/driving the tractor, and the many more memories of he and my Mom celebrating their lives together. I love my Dad, and appreciate him more and more as I get older and understand what all he has done for our family. The sacrifices he's made just to ensure our happiness throughout the years. My Dad is such a godly example of a man, and I think because he's been diligent in his walk with Christ, that my view of God is so strong and loving. I am thankful that I have an earthly father to be an example of my Heavenly Father.

4. Speaking of which, and CERTAINLY not least, my Heavenly Father. There are a slew of words to describe His goodness, power, mercy in my life, and the word sacrifice is shallow compared to what He has done for me, but I did want to mention that I have been beyond blessed because of His presence in my life. I can not imagine my life without the guidance of the Lord, and am so grateful that I can let go of the reigns and let Him lead me.

**The picture is obviously not my dad and I, but I'm unable to upload pictures from my camera/laptop without Internet access. IF I had been able to the picture would have been the one of my Dad teaching me to shoot my 22shotgun by shooting at pumpkins. It's one of my favs.**