Heather Bellamy talks to Tracy Williamson about her new book 'The Father's Kiss' and her journey of healing of father wounds.

Tracy: We are all different....I was shy to an extreme and had no confidence in making decisions or acting or thinking in an adult way. A good father enables his child to grow into the person they are so anyone who exhibits that lack of confidence or who is overly shy or fearful may have a father wound. People with father wounds can also come over as angry, bitter or driven workaholics. ....this last can be the case if a father withheld approval unless his child did well in his eyes, which often is never, leaving the child always striving to excel in order to win that coveted 'well done'. Conversely another person may react with a kind of hopeless despair believing they are useless and that it's no good trying anything. Children of abusive fathers may be very fearful of men or being in any close relationships and see themselves as shameful, bad, ugly etc....

Heather: What advice would you have for anyone who would like to embark on a similar journey to you into the heart of the Father, and to find healing?

Tracy: My advice would be to embark on that journey with confidence that your Heavenly Father longs for you to know you are His beloved child and will be with you every step of the way. Be real and honest with God about where you are right now. He already knows but talking to Him in a real way enables Him to start touching you in those deep areas of hurt.

'The Father's Kiss' has many 'pause and reflect' sections which may be helpful for you to focus on what God may be wanting to touch in your life. It's important to have support from trusted friends or family who understand your vulnerability and are committed and accepting of you. Also people that you can ask to cover you in prayer or to pray personally with you for inner healing and release from the pain and wrong thinking caused by deep wounds.

I would also say 'be gentle with yourself'. You are going through a painful process and for many of us that will be slow and quite overwhelming at times. The enemy will try hard to stop you entering into wholeness and specialises in whispering lies and negative words into our hearts. Don't listen to them even if they seem true. It is God's words that are true about you and He says you are pure, lovely, wanted, chosen, beautiful, trusted.....keep focusing on these truths of God's love for you and even if they feel unreal at first there will come a time when you will break through into a heart knowing that you are His beloved child.

Heather: How did you find the process of writing the book?

Tracy: The book took me four years to write and I was unsure at first if I could really do it. Many of the things I share come out of deep experiences of hurt and the equally deep healing processes. Sometimes it was quite a roller coaster emotionally and there were long periods of time when I didn't want to face it so put off doing any work on it. I only had a publishing contract for it from 2017 so prior to that, during the actual writing of it I was doing it in obedience to God's nudging, but had no idea if it would actually come together as a book. But throughout all that God was leading me, showing me how to write, what stories to include, ministering to me when hurts arose, speaking prophetically with beautiful words and pictures from his Fatherly heart that I knew were for those who would be reading the book. I felt so weak at times but He was with me through the whole process and I sensed His longing for people to know how deeply He loved them as a Father.

Heather: What do you hope people will get out of it?

Tracy: I think people will be opened up to the Father's love as they read and will be helped on their journey into wholeness and empowered to draw closer to God. Those who have already read it have said how much it has moved them and that they have found the 'pause and reflect' sections very illuminating and healing. One lady even experienced a healing of a physical problem as a result of prayerfully reading the book! I believe it will reach people on many levels, with some experiencing deep transformations as they read and others discovering a whole new facet of their understanding of God that will enrich and excite them. It is rooted in the Bible and has strong Bible teaching throughout so I think that the mix of teaching, personal stories, prophetic words, reflections and poems will touch people from different backgrounds and with different ways of experiencing God.

Heather: How can people get a copy of it, or find out more about you and your work leading conferences, or giving concerts?

Tracy: The book is sold by all the usual Christian outlets and is available from eden.co.uk and Amazon. It is also being prepared by Torch Trust for the Blind to be available in media suitable for visually impaired Christians. I work with Marilyn Baker for MBM Trust an itinerant music and teaching ministry, drawing people into restoration through intimacy with God and the book will be available from us too. Visit us at www.mbm-ministires.org or email us at info@mbm-ministries.org. We run several conferences a year, concerts and church weekends too. You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook at @marilynbakerministries, @mbmtrust, @ TracyWilliamsonAuthor. I am also developing my own website www.tracywilliamson.com which will be launching in the near future.