Not Your Name

My choices wrote a sorrow you were never meant to read, Planted fear inside the ground where I was called to plant a seed. You carried adult questions while you still deserved your youth, Trying to make sense of distance, broken promises, and truth. I left you with the silence, then I let you bear the blame, As though a father’s failures somehow stained his daughters’ names. But every weight I gave you was a weight I should have claimed— My sin may mark your story, but my shame is not your name. My shame is not your name. My failures are not your chains. You are not the ruined pieces Of the choices that I made. You are loved. You are chosen. You are held within His grace. What your father failed to show you Cannot take the Father’s place. My absence told a story that you weren’t worth the stay, My silence made it sound like love could turn and walk away. The distance may have whispered you were easy to forget, While every broken promise made you question what you meant. It may have taught you value must be earned through being good, Or love will disappear when you are merely misunderstood. But every one of those conclusions grew from what I chose— They never spoke the truth of you or what the Father knows. You are valued. You are known. You are loved. You’re not alone. Not forgotten. Not erased. Not abandoned By His grace. Where my love failed, His love took over. Where I left you exposed, He became your cover. Where my arms were absent, His wings held you near. Where my silence wounded, His voice answered fear. Where I failed to value you, He called you His own. Where I made you feel forgotten, He kept leading you home. Where I left you questioning If love would still remain, The Father stayed beside you— And He never spoke my shame. Restore their hope in love. Restore what love should mean. Separate Your covenant From everything they saw in me. Reclaim the ground I surrendered When I chose to walk away. Tear down every lie the enemy Was given room to say. My shame is not your name. My failures are not your chains. You are not the ruined pieces Of the choices that I made. You are loved. You are chosen. You are held within His grace. Where my love failed completely, The Father took my place. Father, reclaim every acre That my absence gave away. Plant hope inside the ground Where disappointment learned to stay. Restore their view of faithful love. Let truth replace the lie. Show them love does not abandon, Does not vanish, does not hide. I cannot make those years the same. I cannot take away your pain. But I can tell you what is true: My shame does not belong to you.