by RTF Staff Writer Sarah Rupp

Tiny warm fingers curled around mine. I looked down to find Allie looking up at me with her big blue eyes. “I want my daddy. Can you help me find him?”

I smiled. “Sure.” At that, Allie took the lead to the door, leaving the nursery and the other childcare workers. The empty halls indicated the meeting must be over, and Allie’s dad would be somewhere around here.

Allie skipped ahead, blonde curls bouncing as she searched for her father. Still holding her hand, I struggled to keep up with her. I would not be seen running through the halls of a public building!

But eventually, Allie’s pace began to slow. Then it slowed some more. Soon, we were side by side once again. “Getting tired, Allie?”

Allie stopped and looked at me, her tiny eyebrows knit together and her eyes filling with tears. “Where is my daddy? I can’t find him!”

I knelt down, putting my hands on her shoulders, and assured her. “We’ll find him.”

She started ahead of me again, but this time, her pace was slow. She drug her feet and her head hung, her shoulders slouched in defeat. “We’ll never find him. What if he’s not here?”

“He is here. Don’t worry, Allie.” At that moment, I looked up to see Allie’s father exit a door from a meeting room, holding a clipboard and notebook with a pen attached.

Allie looked up too, and her face lit. She let go of my hand and shot forward as fast as her little feet would take her. “Daddy!”

Her father’s face immediately formed into a smile, and he dropped the clipboard and notebook and knelt with his arms stretched in front of him. “My beautiful daughter!” She mashed her face into him, rather ungracefully, but her father was not dissatisfied. He took her in his arms and held her tight.

I watched as he picked her up and spun her around. In my mind, I thought of my Heavenly Father. I search for Him, but sometimes I can’t find Him. I skip down hallways that don’t lead to where He is. I become discouraged and wonder if He’s even here.

Then He reveals Himself to me. I want to run into His arms with abandon. I want to let go of everything I’m holding on to. He doesn’t care how clumsy or uncoordinated I look. He calls me His beautiful daughter.

Sarah Rupp is a freelance writer who loves God, reading, fashion, and music, as well as writing of course! You can find her over at her blog, Sarah’s Words of Witsdom, or her fashion and beauty blog, Mod Style Lounge. She enjoys connecting with readers and other writers though comments.