Run to your Father
By Tammy Hopson
Mitchell County
The seats on the airplane were small and the flight was long. The high altitude seemed to war against me making my body and my ears ring. After 20 years I was going back home. My life had taken many turns and twists over those years and sometimes I felt like I was moving full speed ahead and others hardly a crawl. Tragedy had struck me many times. The death of my mother, a divorce and reorganization of my family’s life, the death of a baby sister, and the most devastating thing I could ever imagine, the sudden loss of my oldest son. Life had become way too hard and my heart had become frozen and numb. I was only going through the necessary motions as I struggled to carry the heavy weight of grief through each passing day. I was in desperate need of comfort, acceptance, and love. I knew I had to go home. I needed to visit the land I came from, where my mother and sister came from, and also the place where my son was born. I needed to reconnect with someone or something and be reminded who I was.
The flight seemed to last forever. I kept peering out the window to see any hint of home only to see that we were surrounded by clouds. I tried to sit back and relax but my anxiousness kept me shifting in my seat. There was no getting comfortable. Finally, the clouds began to dissipate, and I could see the land below. “The mountains! Oh, the mountains!” my heart cried. The peaks of the Cascades were in view! They were reaching for me and saying “Welcome Home”. After we landed, I couldn’t get off the plane fast enough. I wanted to see the streets of my city. I drove around to see the familiar places, my heart filled with joy at the memory of where I came from, and the place that I had lived. Then I went to my father’s house. I pulled up into the driveway nervous and shaky. Would he be the same? Would he love me the same? I made my way slowly to the door. Suddenly, this large man stood in front of me with his arms open wide and tears in his eyes. He wrapped his arms around me and at that moment I wondered why I had waited so long. He was the same as when I saw him 20 years ago! He was still my Dad! During my visit with him, we reconnected and I remembered whose daughter I am. It soothed my heart to be near him and I vowed I would never stay away this long again.
After, coming back to North Carolina, there have been many times I have felt the same way. The weight of the losses I have endured is something I must carry until I reach heaven. But the memory of going home has become a beautiful poignant analogy for me and pulls me forward when I cannot take another step. I will go home to see my Dad every chance I get and I have been back to see him since that visit in 2020.
But through the pain, I still seek a place of comfort and there are times when I cannot continue to carry the heaviness of losing my beloved son, my sister, or my mother. This life still gets too hard and the world around me can still feel foreign, frozen, and not my home. But when those feelings try to take over, I still run to my Father. Except, I don’t fly home to Seattle. I do not have to travel very far at all. There is no need for an airplane ride or an expensive ticket. I simply must get down on my knees. The soothing and comfort I long for, the connection my heart and soul truly need is with my Heavenly Father. He is there waiting for me and His arms are outstretched and longing to hold me. When I fall into His giant embrace, I am reminded that I am His daughter and even if I have been away far too long He loves me still. With His love, His Spirit comforts me and assures me that I am still His. He knows this world can be hard and feel so cold, but He has prepared for me (and for you) a beautiful place. There is a world waiting for us where death and sorrow cannot enter, where upon our arrival we will be welcomed by our Father Himself. A place that will feel familiar and warm and when we get there we will know that we have finally made it home.
I am wondering if you are carrying the same weight as me. Are you enduring the same losses that I am? Is there pain in your life that is so heavy that you can hardly take another step? If so, don’t wait another second. Run to your Father! He is waiting for you with outstretched hands and He will comfort you.
Luke 15:20 “And he arose and came to his Father……..and his Father saw him and embraced
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Tammy Hopson has been a Mitchell County resident since 1992 and lives in Red Hill with her family. She is a mother of six children and grandmother of 14. She has been a member of Hoyle Memorial Christian Fellowship in Lawndale, NC since 1992 and helps lead The HMCF Youth Group.
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