A Good Story about You

My kids enjoy a good story. They especially like to hear stories about themselves. Whether it’s the day they were born, people who came to see them, people who cared about them, things they did that they don’t remember, tears shed, or falls taken. It’s enchanting to meet an apparent stranger who looks in your eyes then with a twinkle in their own starts with, “I remember when…”

It’s nice to hear that you mattered to someone, that there was at least one person who rushed over just to hold you and kiss you. There were people who prayed for you, even if your parents were not praying people themselves. There were people who cared about you, made things for you, gave your parents ‘best wishes’, loving looks, and reassuring words of what a fine baby you were.

This is how I know that you were loved. God knit you together inside your mother’s womb. It doesn’t matter if she was expecting you, wanting you or desiring you. It is God who opens and closes the womb. No one is an accident. When I was studying teen pregnancy, I asked God if He is in control and every baby is a blessing from Him, why did He let 14 year old girl’s get pregnant, or rape victims, or incest victims, or woman who are about to be diagnosed with cancer? The answer is destiny. God has a purpose for each one of those children, for their mothers and for you.

Romans 8:29-30 (MSG)
"God knew what he was doing from the very beginning.
He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those
who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son.
The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored.
We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him.
After God made that decision of what his children should be like,
he followed it up by calling people by name.
After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself.
And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end,
gloriously completing what he had begun."

Ephesians 1:3-6 (MSG)

“How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is!
He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind,
had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.
 Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ.
 (What pleasure he took in planning this!)
He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving
by the hand of his beloved Son.”

In spite of the sin-filled world we live in, we can trust Him to guide us through it. He chose to bring us into this world, and gently draw us to Him. He will not just turn around and decide we’re not worth the trouble. Of course He wants us to do what is right and His forgiveness policy is not an excuse to do what is wrong. But His love for us is so intense and so great that when we do fail, He will not abandon us.

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 (NLT)
“We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.
We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.
We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God.
We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.
Through suffering, our bodies continue to share
 in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus
 may also be seen in our bodies.”

Written by Mary Wilkins