When You Get A Love Letter From God


On the fall day that he brings a red Encyclopedia Britannica to church for AWANA Bible club, he gets a surprise, a love letter from God.





He doesn’t have a Bible.

And that thick red volume of pages looks as close to a Bible as anything and well, he is only six.

He shows it to me as he is climbing into the big red van.

“Look, Tonya, I brought my Bible today!”

I glance at it briefly but I am hurrying seven children into the van; into car seats and boosters and tossing papers aside and I think, “Is that an encyclopedia?”

But I really don’t have time to worry about it.  I really don’t have time to notice.  All I know is that we are late and hurrying again

He didn’t grow up in a household of faith.

We’ve only been bringing him to church for a year in the big red van but this six year old is teaching us some things about God that we sometimes forget.  Like, the fact that God loves us.

I wrangle all these little ones into church and to their Bible club rooms and when I pick him up he shows me his new Bible. 

“Look what Miss Sam and Miss Catie gave me!  A  real Bible!”

I stare at the black book with Holy Bible printed across the front in gold letters, given by his Bible club leaders who had noticed the red encyclopedia posing as a Bible.

“I wrote my name in it,” he says with a blue- eyed grin.
 

It reads, on the inside cover, in childish block printing,

To: Karter

Love: God.

Oh, be still my beating heart. 

How does he know?

How does he know that God’s word is both gift and love letter to him?

How does he know that this book that he holds is God’s story of love for him?

He just knows. 

Because God has written His love on our hearts, on Karter’s heart so that we all may believe that we are deeply loved children of God.

This six year old boy who has always wanted brothers and sisters, wanted a big family, a place to belong, has found one in Christ.  He has been adopted in to God’s family and mine. 

His only brother died before he was ever born, in a tragic accident.  But about nine months after Karter starts coming to church with us, his single mom makes a shocking discovery. 

One day when she in going through the clothes of her first son who died nine years ago, she finds an old Awana vest and shirt and participation ribbons showing her son’s involvement in the Bible club.  Her first son had also been a part of this same Bible club at another church many years ago.

She had had no idea.  She was a single mom and worked hard to support them and in the crush and burden of life she just didn’t notice that someone had taken him to Bible club for years. 

She shows me the vest with Awana emblazoned on the front.  She is speechless.

“What does this mean?  How could I not have known, not remembered that he went to church with someone? I sort of remember it but how could I not have I have realized that it was the same club? How could Karter get invited by your family, after we moved to a different part of the city, to go to the same Bible club as my son who died?  What...what am I supposed to see from this?”

Tears come and I say, “I think God wants you to see that He was there.  Always.  He was there in your life, in Jimmy’s life even when you weren’t looking for Him, noticing Him, He was still loving you, reaching out for you.  He loves you.  He loves your sons.  He was showing himself to Jimmy and even then, He was there.  I don’t know why Jimmy died but I do know that God loves you deeply and he loves Jimmy and he loves Karter.  I think God wants you to see that all along He has been there and His love never changes.”  She nods in acceptance.  And over time she comes to believe that God loves her and she puts her faith in Christ.

Listen friend, don’t ever doubt that you are loved.

Suffering, difficulty, and trouble are not proof that God no longer loves us because God has proved His love for us once and for all by sending his son to die in our place so that we can live forever in heaven. 

“If God is for us, who can be against us? Since he did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? … Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?  Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble, calamity, or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death?  … And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.  Indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39 (selected verses)

You are loved.  You are chosen.  You are His.  Believe it. 

He proved His love for us on the cross with a love that is written on our hearts and in His Word, a love that never ends.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When Ungrateful Met Grace

You know how it is, two steps forward, one step back. And all this talk of grace and change and it was sure to be tested. The day broke in an off kilter stance.  Something just didn't feel quite right. I think it was the fungus growing in my heart.  The one breeding ungratefulness and complaining. And I know where it started.  One little word spoken about an old wound, and overnight, fungus appears. And didn't Jesus tell me that? He said, "It's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth." Matt. 15:11 Because our words will always betray what is really in our heart. And this small word about an old hurt and ungratefulness is growing.  I'm thinking about what I think I deserve in that situation, and this rotting pride and stinking ungratefulness, it grows roots. I knew from the moment my feet hit the floor this was going to be a battle, a battle for my heart. The kids sensed it too
Read more

The Habitation of Hope

Image
Hope.  That is the word that stands on the mantle proclaiming to all who enter, "Hope dwells here."  This house was called House of Hope for many years before we came here.  It shone like a lighthouse beaming through the inky black of night, like a city lit, burning on a hill.  This is a place where God breathed hope and He keeps breathing, willing life to all the dead.  Nine months ago when Out of Darkness came to steward this house of Hope, our drop in center, we had no idea what this adventure held.  From our porch we see the women working on the corner, the homeless wander by, the addicted stumble up upon our stoop, all looking for that which satisfies and never runs dry, for the Hope that leads to Life forever and ever.  We meet around this feasting table, rich dark wood, laden with food for a lost wanderer.  We prepare a room with clothes to clothe the naked.  And then we go out and invite them in. We go out to the alleys, the corners, the dark and hidden places a
Read more

The Grace for the Tempted and Tried

Image
It has been a rough few weeks.  The kind that makes you want to just curl up in bed, covers pulled tight over head and never come out. The temptation in trials, sometimes, is to just forget who you are. Sunday, Pastor Steve preaches this message, about the tempting of Jesus, and I can feel it sinking deep into parched ground.  Oh, how I've needed to remember who I am, Whose I am. I am His. And it's this miracle of Grace that changes everything. I am His, not because I am good enough, I'll never be that. I am His, not because I get it right, but because He can't ever get it wrong. I am His, not because I work hard at it, but because He's told me to just believe that He already finished the work for me. I am His. And it's this trusting, this believing in His grace, that changes everything. I've spent over two years meditating on the book of Romans, trying to soak this grace deep into my pores. At morning devotions with the six kids, we
Read more