God is so good. I want to praise Him forever and ever!
As a little background, I have 4 children… 3 girls and a boy. There has been an estrangement between them and me for about 38 years. In short, I did not raise my children because of circumstances I don’t want to relate at this time.
My oldest child contacted me and restarted our relationship about 20 years ago. I have truly been blessed because of this. However, I could never discuss anything about her siblings because they had made it clear she was not to share any news about them.
Twenty-five years ago, I came back to Christ and accepted Him as my Savior. It was at this time that I started praying for reconciliation with my children. But, I asked the Lord for their salvation first. I actually told Him It would be OK if we didn’t reconcile as long as they knew Him as their Lord and Savior. You see, I thought that way I would at least see them in heaven.
My son is the youngest of the group. He wrote a letter to me stating that he didn’t want any part of me in his life, to stay away, to never come around because he was better off if I did stay away. I cried when I got it. Special times always brought the “blues”. I have seldom attended church on Mother’s Day for instance. I just didn’t believe I should be honored when I most certainly was not worthy! Their birthdays and Christmas were not good days to be around me unless you wanted a dark side of me.
In November of last year, I wrote a letter to my children that the Lord had been prodding me to write. I had balked because, over the years, I had written them, had even asked their forgiveness for not being in their lives. That’s biblical, right? Well, I wrote that letter last November and sent it out to them as the Lord wanted, believing it was the last contact I probably would be making with them.
Yesterday, April 25, 2009, I received an email from my son. When I saw it, I immediately thought it was going to be negative. I summoned up the courage to read it after several minutes of self-chastisement. With great surprise, I found my son had written in response to my November letter and wanted to “get to know me”. Not only that… he related that he had received Christ as his Savior. His wife was the driving force in his salvation. He stated that it was truly emotional for him to write, and he apologized for taking so long to respond to my letter, but he “wanted it to be from his heart, not his head”.
Wow! Answers to 2 prayers at one time! It’s hard to beat that, right? Well, God gave me a third. I had my husband read the email from Gregg. Jim is not a believer and is very skeptical. He carefully read all about Gregg’s wife being the one who led him to accept Christ and that Gregg has found he is a sinner who has a ways to go “to get where he should be”. Then, Jim handed back the document and said “That’s a very good letter.” No skepticism at all, just support. I’m looking forward to the next miracle: my husband’s salvation! Hallelujah!!!
James 5:13-16 (NIV) says” Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Continued prayer is never in vain. God hears it all and answers. Many people over the years have been prayer warriors about reconciliation with my kids. I want to thank them all for that. Praise God for the privilege of doing that for some other brother or sister as well. We need to support and lift each other up in prayer.
And 2 Peter 3:8 (NIV) says” But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. We do not understand God’s timing.
This has re-taught me a beautiful lesson: God’s timing is perfect. So many things had to fall in place for a “miracle” to come about… and we have no conception of how much miracle God has in mind. We are to just be faithful and keep on praying!
As a little background, I have 4 children… 3 girls and a boy. There has been an estrangement between them and me for about 38 years. In short, I did not raise my children because of circumstances I don’t want to relate at this time.
My oldest child contacted me and restarted our relationship about 20 years ago. I have truly been blessed because of this. However, I could never discuss anything about her siblings because they had made it clear she was not to share any news about them.
Twenty-five years ago, I came back to Christ and accepted Him as my Savior. It was at this time that I started praying for reconciliation with my children. But, I asked the Lord for their salvation first. I actually told Him It would be OK if we didn’t reconcile as long as they knew Him as their Lord and Savior. You see, I thought that way I would at least see them in heaven.
My son is the youngest of the group. He wrote a letter to me stating that he didn’t want any part of me in his life, to stay away, to never come around because he was better off if I did stay away. I cried when I got it. Special times always brought the “blues”. I have seldom attended church on Mother’s Day for instance. I just didn’t believe I should be honored when I most certainly was not worthy! Their birthdays and Christmas were not good days to be around me unless you wanted a dark side of me.
In November of last year, I wrote a letter to my children that the Lord had been prodding me to write. I had balked because, over the years, I had written them, had even asked their forgiveness for not being in their lives. That’s biblical, right? Well, I wrote that letter last November and sent it out to them as the Lord wanted, believing it was the last contact I probably would be making with them.
Yesterday, April 25, 2009, I received an email from my son. When I saw it, I immediately thought it was going to be negative. I summoned up the courage to read it after several minutes of self-chastisement. With great surprise, I found my son had written in response to my November letter and wanted to “get to know me”. Not only that… he related that he had received Christ as his Savior. His wife was the driving force in his salvation. He stated that it was truly emotional for him to write, and he apologized for taking so long to respond to my letter, but he “wanted it to be from his heart, not his head”.
Wow! Answers to 2 prayers at one time! It’s hard to beat that, right? Well, God gave me a third. I had my husband read the email from Gregg. Jim is not a believer and is very skeptical. He carefully read all about Gregg’s wife being the one who led him to accept Christ and that Gregg has found he is a sinner who has a ways to go “to get where he should be”. Then, Jim handed back the document and said “That’s a very good letter.” No skepticism at all, just support. I’m looking forward to the next miracle: my husband’s salvation! Hallelujah!!!
James 5:13-16 (NIV) says” Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Continued prayer is never in vain. God hears it all and answers. Many people over the years have been prayer warriors about reconciliation with my kids. I want to thank them all for that. Praise God for the privilege of doing that for some other brother or sister as well. We need to support and lift each other up in prayer.
And 2 Peter 3:8 (NIV) says” But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. We do not understand God’s timing.
This has re-taught me a beautiful lesson: God’s timing is perfect. So many things had to fall in place for a “miracle” to come about… and we have no conception of how much miracle God has in mind. We are to just be faithful and keep on praying!
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