Growing up in an alcoholic home, alcohol robbed me of the only earthly father that I knew and left me wounded and numb. The relationship was nonexistent because my father was absent from everything meaningful. How does a kid relate to that?
Any verse in scripture that refers to us as children like in Matthew 18:2-3, I understood its meaning, but could never fully relate because of the word children. Attempting to relate to God in any way as a child was nearly impossible.
I know many of you reading this post have various relationships with your family. You could have been adopted, you could have been like me and grew up in a very chaotic and unstable environment like an alcoholic home, or you could have had a wonderful home life.
It does not matter to God what type of family you were a part of as a child. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have been adopted into God’s family (Ephesians 1:5). Once adopted, we become His children (Romans 8:16). When we become God’s children, we also become heirs of God. The Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, © 1984, 1996, defines heir as “one who receives something other than by merit” (pg. 300). There is no such thing as being good enough or trying hard enough to get on God’s good side. You come as you are from an alcoholic home or a wonderful home.
Living in an alcoholic home as a child, I was a people pleaser. I didn’t want to upset the apple cart, so I always did as I was told or expected. As a result, I lived in a constant state of fear. The truth is, I “did not receive a spirit that makes [me] a slave again to fear, but [I] received the Spirit of sonship” (Romans 8:15).
As I dive deeper and deeper into the pit of my past, working through the pain, swimming through the memories from an alcoholic home, I know that God sees me as one of His children, and accepts me as His precious daughter. I can now come to Him, crawl up in His lap and see Him as the Father I never had. After all, I am the apple of His eye (Psalm 17:8).