A Christmas to Remember...

That year was a memorable one in our lives as a family and not for reasons I was proud of. As a newly divorced single mother, only two months into the realities of single parenting, I had zero dollars to spend on Christmas and four kids who had been accustomed to very generous Christmases up until that year.

I was depressed. Not only was I grieving the loss of my marriage, but the thought of Christmas was sending me over the edge. I didn't want my kids to be on the receiving end of any further losses. The break up of our family had forced me to sell our home, move the kids into a tiny apartment, get rid of our family pet, since the apartment wouldn't allow dogs, and forced me to take a job that took me out of the home and left the kids as “latch key” kids for the first time in their lives. Now, Christmas was chasing me down and I was dreading telling my four children they shouldn't expect gifts this Christmas. I was broker than broke and feeling pretty miserable about it all. I was wishing, if there were any way possible, could we just skip Christmas that year?

But, sometimes, our kids surprise us in the most amazing ways. And that was the case that year. I sat them all down and laid the cards on the table. We didn't have any money for Christmas. Period. Just that simple. Sorry, but, that was the reality. No way to fix it. Or so I thought.

In the middle of my explanation of why we would have to cancel Christmas, my youngest son, then only ten years old, smiled at me with a grin that spread across his face from ear to ear and said he didn't see why we couldn't still exchange gifts. He suggested that we pull names from a hat and buy a gift for the person whose name we had pulled, limiting the gift to no more than five dollars. I wasn't too big on the idea but the enthusiasm he had for the plan was contagious. All the kids jumped on the band wagon and playfully embraced Matt's plan, all pretending it would be the best Christmas they had ever experienced.

They sat and mulled it over for quite awhile, as if it were a master plan requiring hours of thoughtful, strategic planning. I marveled at these kids – so willing to accept,with grace and love for each other, the hand that had been dealt to them that year – the worst they had ever experienced in their young lives.

I could not have imagined the care that these kids put into their shopping that year. On the smallest of budgets, they shopped for just the right gift for each other, chosen to tickle the heart of the one on the receiving end of the gift. The entire month before Christmas was a ritual of playful teasing and guessing who had who and what had they purchased. I'm not sure they ever had more fun with Christmas.

I could not tell you today what any one of those gifts was that night. As their mom, I sat and watched the love of these kids so beautifully on display as they wished each other a Merry Christmas, ending a year of heartache and pain that none of us would ever forget. The little five dollar gifts we gave each other that year were just cover! Wrapped over and under and in between those silly little gifts was the priceless message “I love you – no matter what...”

As I watched my kids celebrate Christmas that year, I realized God had used my children to teach me the meaning of real love. It cannot be broken - not by divorce, not by hardship, not by the experience of “poverty” that we found ourselves in that Christmas.  'Love never fails!'  

Christmas was simply never sweeter...

Scripture Reference: 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 NKJV

“Love suffers long and is kind;

love does not envy;

love does not parade itself,

is not puffed up;

does not behave rudely,

does not seek its own,

is not provoked,

thinks no evil;

does not rejoice in iniquity,

but rejoices in the truth;

bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

Love never fails...!”

"Dot"

He was such a sweet young boy. About twelve years old, just beginning to realize he was a “man”, he was full of playfulness and personality. I couldn't understand how anybody would not be proud to have him for a son. But, the painful truth was exactly that.

Scott came to live with us as a foster child when I was just a brand new mother myself. Just learning how to navigate the rapids of motherhood, my first child, Christy, was only about two years old when Scott came to live with us. They took to each other like fish to the sea. She adored him as a big brother who played with her as only big brothers do. And he embraced the opportunity to be a big brother with someone to look up to him and run to him when he came home from school. Our little daughter, Christy, unable to get her mouth around the name, Scott, nicknamed him 'Dot'. It made my day to see my baby running across the room to greet 'Dot' whenever he returned home. Scott would grin from ear to ear and returned the affection from his little admirer in full measure.

I was quite young – definitely not old enough to be his mama. But to know Scott was to love Scott. I would sit with him in the evening, inviting him to talk and tell me his story. He was one of the first of over sixteen foster children we opened our home to over the years. But, Scott was one of my favorites. He stole my heart almost the minute I met him.

I could not understand what would have happened in his young life that would have brought him to the Chicago Juvenile Court System that removed him from his home. Until one evening, after he had been with us a few months, he told me. Very quietly. Very softly, Very shamefully. He told me the story of how he had gone to school one day, after having been beaten mercilessly by his father, who had hung him by his wrists in the garage of their home and beat him senseless on his bare back. The scars were all over his back, even months later, as he told me the story. A counselor at school had suspected abuse and had investigated and discovered the scars. She had moved to have him removed from the home for his own protection. My eyes filled with tears as this young boy, a child I would have been proud to call my son, shared with me the truth of the horrible abuse he had been living with at the hands of his own father. I wanted to beat the father myself. I wanted to protect Scott from ever having to deal with this sadist again.

This was not to be. The simple, unbearable truth was, Scott wanted to go home. He excused his

father's abuse. It really wasn't that bad, he told me. His father just got a little too angry. The school was making too much of it. These were his parents. That was his home. And he wanted to go back.

I could not believe what I was hearing. I didn't know much about the psychology of the victim of abuse at that time. Now, I realize, it is often characteristic of a child victim of abuse to blame themselves. But, back then, I had no idea of that. All I knew was that this wonderful young boy, welcomed with open arms into our home, already beginning to become a part of our family, wanted to return to the nightmare life he had left. No matter the circumstances of his life, this was his family and he missed them and wanted to go home. I realized fully, for the first time in my life, the incredible loyalty a child has to his parents. No matter what they did to him, Scott defended them. His father wasn't a monster to him. His father was his father. And he desperately wanted to be with him, to gain his approval and love. Such a sacred trust is parenthood... I believe God has implanted in a child's heart a devotion and loyalty for his parents that is unequaled by almost any other relationship in life. How great is our accountability before God, if we violate that trust...

I couldn't keep Scott against his will and so he left our home. I never saw him again after he left. That's the way it was back then in the foster care system. Once a child left your home, you seldom heard what happened to them. But, I have never forgotten 'Dot'. I often think of him to this day and whisper a prayer for him to be blessed by the God Who fashioned him by His own hand. I hope he made it. I hope he overcame all of the abuse that was dumped on his young shoulders, quite literally. I hope I see him in heaven some day. I hope he met his Savior and the Father who loved him from the beginning of time. Yes. I remember 'Dot'...

Scripture Reference: Psalm 127:3 NKJV

“Behold, children are a gift from the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.”

Will I Know You?

One of my granddaughters loves to ply me with questions about heaven. Either she thinks I've already been there, or she figures I'm so close to the pearly gates that I must have had a chance to look the place over! I'm not sure what it is, but she asks me endless questions about what heaven is like. I tell her what God's Word has revealed to me about heaven and then, playfully, together we imagine some other things He might have in store for us – who knows? I believe Our God is a God of great surprises!

The images of heaven that God has given us, especially in the Book of Revelation, are of a heaven that is breathtakingly beautiful and beyond anything we can ever imagine. Here is John giving us a little glimpse of what he saw on the day that God gave Him a tour of His heaven.

“He who sat upon the throne was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes and they had crowns of gold on their heads...Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal...”
Revelation 4:3-6

John goes on to tell us that surrounding the Throne of God were four living creatures continually singing praises to the Lord Jesus Christ. I love everything about this description of heaven. God has spared nothing to show praise and honor to Jesus, who, as the sacrificial Lamb of God, is Worthy of all honor and glory, forever and ever. Because He paid it all for us, we will be partakers in His glory. What an incredible, life altering truth – almost incomprehensible to understand.

My granddaughter watches me with wide eyes, still completely believing that, if I tell her something, it must be true! So I tell her that God has said that “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard the things that He has prepared for us in heaven!” I tell her that Jesus said that He “has gone to prepare a place for us, so that where He is, we may be also!” He wouldn't have lied to us about that now would He? I describe for her the streets of gold, the pearly gates and the beautiful glass sea, with rainbows surrounding the throne of God. I tell her that I have many loved ones that I cannot wait to see when I get there – my father, my mother, my baby that I have never seen. And, we shall see Jesus. The One who purchased heaven for her and for me.

She isn't satisfied with that. Like any child, for every question I can answer, she has a million more! Will I be bored in heaven? How old will I be? What will I do all day - will I know you in heaven – will you know me? Will I just be a spirit that no-one else can see? I don't want to be a spirit, she assures me – that doesn't sound like anything I would want to be! Where will I live, will I go to school, will I get sick? Will I know you in heaven – will you know me? She asks me that question repeatedly, looking for reassurance that we will be together when we get to heaven – the touching and innocent questions of a child full of wonder about this strange thing we call 'heaven'.

I delight in these opportunities to share with my granddaughter the picture of heaven that I have in my mind's eye. I want to encourage her to understand that this isn't all there is. There is a heaven He has promised you and me. I do want to stir up in this precious child a hunger for heaven. This world is so fleeting, so temporary, so fragile. I don't want my granddaughter to so fall in love with life here, that she neglects to go after heaven. Go after God with everything you have, little one. And in the process, you will gain heaven...

I am struck by the words of Jesus when He said: “Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.' Yet, you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. Anoint your eyes with salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. To him who has an ear, let him hear...” Revelation 3:17-21

Is God speaking to me – is He speaking to you? Are my eyes and yours so blinded by the riches of this world that we do not see Him standing at the door, begging to come in? Calling us to repent, to understand what is at stake, while there is still time? Have we so stuffed our ears with the cotton balls of “our priorities” that we do not hear His voice or receive His correction? He has told us He will chasten us because He loves us. Do we believe Him? Or are we so self-satisfied, imagining we lack nothing, not realizing how desperate, poor and naked we are before Him?

He has promised us riches untold in a heaven that is waiting. Are we looking for that day? Are we prepared? Or have we traded away the heaven He has purchased for the immediate gratification of things that are perishing anyway?

Like my little granddaughter, I have to train my eyes to look for Him; my ears to hear His voice; my heart to yearn for Him. I have to learn not to settle for anything less. There is a heaven waiting. I don't want to miss it! Do you?

I look at my granddaughter, just beginning life. But, I know that it is over almost before it begins. When it's over, I want to see her again. I want to have her over for hot chocolate in the little cottage by the sea that He has tucked away just for me! I'm sure I'll know her. And she'll know me!

Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,

Nor have entered into the heart of man

The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Suffer the Children...

Among the most heartbreaking victims of persecution throughout the world are innocent children.  Some are kidnapped, some used for the sexual pleasure of their captors, 

some are witnesses to the most cruel atrocities imaginable, 

including the murder of their parents and siblings. 

How can we turn our backs on these innocent victims of persecution?  

Please remember to bring them before the Father in your prayers this week. 

May God surround them with His healing love, comfort them, strengthen them, 

and raise them up to be mighty witnesses to the power of God to rescue, 

redeem and transform lives against all odds.

Scripture Reference:  Matthew 18:6  NKJV

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea..."

Treasured

Billions of years ago, before the beginning of time, I dreamed a dream of you! How precious you were to Me, from the moment I first saw you in the corner of My eye! I have pictures of you, my little one, plastered all over the walls of heaven! The angels always tease Me that you seem to be My favorite! I'm not denying anything to them! You own My heart, my child. For you, I paid it all...

I remember the day I chose your name! Oh, yes, it was I that chose the perfect name for you! That is the right of a Daddy! I didn't need a name book! I knew exactly who you were long before you were born. You are beautiful, my precious child, a Miracle from Me! I let your parents pick a name for you while you are on the earth. But, when you come to live with Me, I will call you by that special name I have for you - My baby, My own.  Until then, I often call you Treasured, for so you are to Me!

I spent many hours choosing from the rainbow the color of your eyes, your hair, your beautiful skin. I knew how tall I would let you grow, where you would be born and when. I remember the first time I saw you smile! I called the angels in to brag on you! I tickled your tummy and threw you in the air – your giggles filled the night with laughter – the most beautiful of all music on heaven or on earth!

I was so very proud of you, my little one! So dear to Me were you, that I struggled to let you go. It is not an easy thing for a Papa to give His dearest child to someone else to raise. The angels all surrounded Me and begged me to keep you there. I will admit, for one brief moment, I did consider it. But, then I looked at you. Your eyes were filled with innocence and eagerness – “Can I go now Papa – can I begin our plan?” So I loaded you with treasured gifts to help you on your way. I wrapped you in the blanket of My love and sent you to earth today. I breathed my love all over you and whispered in your ear. Never forget who made you, My child, My baby dear. I am always here for you – you will never be alone – turn to Me when you need Me – I am only a whisper away.

I surrounded you with grown ups to protect and care for you. I entrusted you, my little one, to those I called to care. Did they know what I was giving them when I blessed them with the gift of you? I watched them fail to help you, to love you as they should. It broke the Heart of God, for sure, to see you be abused. I saw the confusion and hurt that was growing in your heart. You struggled to remember the love that you had known when I bounced you on My knee. You struggled to remember that I loved you. You couldn't remember Me...

I saw you make a choice today, that I never planned for you. I had a dream for you, remember? I wept all over heaven when you gave up all hope today. The angels tried to comfort Me, but, a Daddy's heart is broken when His baby is abused. I was there with you, my little one. I know you didn't see. But, I will lift you on My shoulders and carry you home today. I am sorry for your suffering, my baby, my darling, my precious little lamb.

All of Heaven is yours today. For keeps. Forever. For all you mean to Me...

Scripture Reference: Matthew 19: 14 NKJV

Then Jesus said to them: “Let the little children come to Me

And do not forbid them,

For of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.”