Wednesday 16 May 2012

Today Reminder - 16 May 2012 (A father's letter)

My dear friend, we are always confronted by the idea of evil and why bad things happen. We should not be angry at God and ask why He allows evil to enter our lives, but instead we should be amazed at the price He paid to rescue us from it all when we have rebelled so against Him. We read this letter last night and it truly blessed us, so I decided to share it with you today. May God bless you with this amazing letter and may your love for Him grow stronger with every minute of every day. 

MY DEAR BRISTOL

Before you were born I prayed for you. In my heart I knew that you would be a little angel. And so you were.

When you were born on my birthday, April 7
th, it was evident that you were a special gift from the Lord. But how profound a gift you turned out to be! More than the bundle of gurgles and rosy cheeks – more than the first-born of my flesh, a joy unspeakable. You showed me God's love more than anything else in all creation.

Bristol, you taught me how to love.


I certainly loved you when you were cuddly and cute, when you rolled over and sat up and jabbered your first words. I loved you when the searing pain of the realization that took hold that something was wrong – that maybe you were not developing as quickly as your peers. Then when we understood it was more serious than that. I loved you when we went from hospital to clinic to doctor looking for a medical diagnosis that would bring some hope. And, of course, we always prayed for you, and prayed and prayed.


I loved you when one of the tests resulted in too much spinal fluid being drawn from your body and you screamed. I loved you when you moaned and cried. When your Mum and I and your sisters would drive for hours late at night to help you fall asleep. I loved you with tears in my eyes, when confused, you would bite your fingers or your lip by accident and when your eyes cross and then went blind.


I most certainly loved you when you could no longer speak, but how profoundly I missed your voice! I loved you when your scoliosis started wrenching your body like a pretzel, when we put a tube in your stomach so you could eat, because you were choking on your food, which we fed you one spoonful at a time for up to two hours per meal. I managed to love you when your contorted limbs would not allow ease of changing your messy diapers – so many diapers – ten years of diapers. Bristol, I even loved you when you could not say the one thing in life that I longed to hear back – “Daddy, I love you.” Bristol, I loved you when I was close to God and when He seemed far away, when I was full of faith and also when I was angry at Him.


And the reason I loved you, my Bristol, in spite of these difficulties, is that God put His love in my heart. This is the wondrous nature of God's love, that He loves us even when we are blind, deaf or twisted in body or in spirit. God loves us even when we can't tell Him that we love Him back.


My Dear Bristol, now you are free! I looked forward to that day, according to God's promises, when we will be joined together with you with the Lord, completely whole and full of joy. I'm so happy that you have your crown first. We will follow you someday – in His time.


Before you were born, I prayed for you. In my heart I knew that you would be a little angel. And so you were.


Love Daddy

 
(From the Book : Enjoyment & Truth )

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