Women of Reverence welcomes Frank Kurebwa as a guest blogger for Fathers Day.
Frank is an Elder at the Base Church, Zimbabwe. Together with his wife they own a coffee shop and a business consultancy business. They are passionate about property development and creating spaces.
Frank Kurebwa completed his articles with Ernst & Young Zimbabwe. He also holds a certificate from Success Motivation International (SMI, Waco Texas). He has worked vastly in Southern Africa mainly Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Zambia in a consultative capacity and in other cases permanent positons.
He is also involved in organizing business conferences in Zimbabwe and initiatives to help people in business harness their skills and increase their capacity in business for the sake of kingdom extension. Frank is married to his beautiful wife Wadzanai and they have two boys Benjamin (6 years) and Isaac (4 years) and they live in Harare, Zimbabwe
The Great Reformer Martin Luther said this,
“I have difficulty in praying the Lord’s Prayer because whenever I say, ‘Our Father,’ I think of my own father who was hard, unyielding and relentless. I cannot help but think of God that way.”
I read this many years after I had walked in forgiveness with my earthly father and it reminded me of how we can derail our own destiny in the things God has for us if we as Fathers or children do not walk in forgiveness towards one-other. Forgiveness doesn’t always mean the other party will apologize! Sometimes the other party might not even be alive to own up to what happened, but we serve a good father who is a restorer and redeemer!
Many studies have shown the absolute and significant necessity of the Father in the life of a child, and the impact left in the wake of a father’s absence. I grew up in a loving home with healthy boundaries which were good for my confidence and personal growth. I gave my life to the Lord in my mid-teens and was thus more attentive to sermons that had a significant bearing on my life, especially where topics like finding the one, and making good life decisions were paramount. At the time I was in a very young church, so topics like these were key to our development and walk with the Lord. One day The Father Heart series was run. This topic changed my life.
God is our Father and often our concept of a father is seen through the experiential lenses of our earthly father. My late teens and early twenties weren’t the best time to deal with the issues with my earthly father, but forgiveness is the corner stone to all authentic life-building relationships, beginning with the forgiveness that we need and receive from our heavenly Father, when we hand our lives to Him. He commands us to forgive those who sin against us based on his forgiveness for our sins. There may be people reading this article who have experienced different kinds of fathers. Some have been present, some have had absent fathers through death or abandonment, some have had neglectful, terrible fathers, some have had great fathers, and some, dads in-between that spectrum. Whatever our reality growing up, we are not exempt from the need to give and receive forgiveness.
As a child of God extending forgiveness for the wrongs done to us can be tough, but it brings about a wholeness and allows us to walk in the clear reflection of our perfect heavenly father, and to partake in His nature.
God is truly a GOOD, GOOD FATHER! Our heavenly father is not a REFLECTION OF OUR EARTHLY FATHER, He is PERFECT. I realized just how amazing our heavenly father is and he showed me time and time again how perfect and true and loving He is in the way he has handled my life.
I write as a father of two sons. No matter how hard I try, there are and will be days I don’t measure up as a father. I’ve made many mistakes! But one thing I know and uphold is the knowledge that if I walk in forgiveness and my kids do too, we will do great exploits in our own lives and in the lives of others if we hold to true forgiveness.
15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; Hebrews 12:15 (NKJV)
After all, ‘Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die’. Malachy McCourt.
So live free because life is worth living!
Be Blessed
Frank