Three years ago today a baby boy was found abandoned on a street. Tonight, that same little boy will go to sleep again without a hug or kiss from Mom or Dad. But this little boy is not just a minute fraction of an overwhelming statistic, this child is my son. Lord Jesus, bring him home, please!
Last night I was awake for hours (usual story) wrestling with thoughts and emotions. This coming Friday is our "meetcha day" and Ian, my nine year old, wants to celebrate but I know that would require me leaving my pity party. Again I cried out, "Lord, help me see in perspective" and He brought to mind the song "Love Came Down" (if you know me you know I love me some Jeremy Riddle!). Then, this morning at church I noticed The Solid Rock listed in the bulletin. I told my husband I didn't have the emotional capacity for this. He knew. He had held me for a long time this morning as I wept. He knows this hymn has been a theme song for me this year. Sure enough, at verse two I couldn't hold it in any longer.
When Darkness veils his lovely face,
I rest on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the veil.
It didn't get any better with verse three:
His oath, his covenant, his blood
supports me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay.
The sermon was based on 1 Peter 1:3-9.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Paired with the song I've been struggling to sing wholeheartedly since the middle of the night, this is exactly what I needed today. And so today, thanks to His grace, though my heart aches for my son I have joy.
Here's a second chance, now go ahead and worship with Riddle, too. ;)
