Following is a letter written by an adult daughter in our congregation to her father. It is published here as an encouragement to you to reach out similarly to someone in your life that God has used to bless you.
How God Used my Father to Bless My Life (May 18, 2021)
My father was born into a poor family of eight children in a poor section of Philadelphia. They could not afford much, and for a period of time, my father had to wear girls’ shoes to school because that is all they had. He was born in 1927, and when the Great Depression hit, the family had to stand in line to get basics. My father did not graduate from high school because he had to work to help to support the family.
When my father was a teenager, he was hired by the Nabisco Company as a floor sweeper. He came to work on time, never missed a day, and did a very good job of sweeping floors. His good attitude toward his work was noticed by the company, and in good time, they offered him a better job. So he left the union and joined the company as an assistant foreman in the packing department.
My father continued with his excellent work ethic and good attitude toward the people above and below him. As a result of my father’s diligence, he kept getting promoted. With those promotions came transfers, so we moved four times from kindergarden until sixth grade (always during the school year, so I was the “new kid on the block.”)
My parents were finally able to afford to buy a home at that time. It was in the suburbs, and it was the first time that I had my very own bedroom. Before that I had to share a small bedroom with my younger brother.
During all of my school years I did not see my father in the morning because he would leave the house at 6AM to get to work nice and early in order to be on top of things when the shifts changed at 7AM. He was usually home by 5:30PM, and work was only ten minutes away, so he put in eleven-hour days routinely.
All of my classmates were applying to colleges, so I thought I should do the same. I was accepted at the only school l applied to—Penn State University. I worked in the summers (at Nabisco) and saved every penny for school. I also had little jobs during the school year. My father paid 1/3 of my tuition/room/board, I paid 1/3, and I got a student loan for 1/3. That is how I got through college.
My father would take me to Penn State (four hours away) with all my stuff in September, and pick me back up in May, with our family station wagon. He did all of the driving—eight hours in one day. He did that all four years, and he did it cheerfully!
Thanks to my father’s hard work and good attitude, he was able to get us out of the city. This made a big difference in the kind of life I had during high school. I was in a good, suburban school instead of in a poor city school. I had friends who were high achievers and very accomplished. This made me want to do my best, which was also part of the personality that I inherited from my father.
My father was promoted to the Assistant Manager of the entire Philadelphia Bakery of Nabisco. After that, he was promoted to “Packing Specialist” working out of the Nabisco headquarters in New York City. They sent him all over the world to represent the company and to solve packing problems. He did not want us to have to move again, so he commuted to NYC every day, except when he was traveling.
Later on in my life, when I went through a very challenging time (divorce), thanks to my father’s generosity, I was able to get a car in my own name. I really don’t know what I would have done without that help, because there was very little in the way of assets after 30 years of marriage, and the person I had been married to did his best see that I was left with as little as possible. So my father really rescued me!
God blessed my father’s life financially, because he was generous and because he made good decisions. He bought a property in Australia that he sold 30 years later for 1.2 million dollars! This is truly a rags to riches story! And it is all because of hard work, a good attitude, and God-given intelligence. I inherited my father’s intelligence, his attitude, and his work ethic, all of which have blessed my life tremendously.
Even though my father was not very expressive, I always knew that he loved me and approved of me, and that gave me a lot of confidence and security. I was able to make good decisions because of that, I believe. God has used my decisions to bless my life. Even before I came to know the Lord at the age of 24, He was blessing my life through my father.
THANKS, DAD! I LOVE YOU!