When I have my grandchildren overnight, they always want a bed-time story. Many times my stories involve the remembrances I have of growing up. I imagine you have stories to tell as well – seems the older I get the clearer my memories of childhood and the foggier my memories of what I had for breakfast.
But the most important story I have is the story of how I met Christ, and how I was adopted into His family. Because you see, that’s exactly what happened. God searched for me, He wanted me as His child. He loved me, He reached out to me, I took His hand, and now I’m a child of the King.
Galatians 4 tells us that “. . . when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” He’s our Father and we are his heirs.
But I question whether my life shows that? Do my actions say I’m His child? Do they make my Father proud, or does He sometimes want to pretend I don’t belong to Him?
When my son was about 5 years old, we were in a department store and He, being his father’s child and curious as to how everything works, managed to turn off the escalator. When I saw who was involved in the catastrophe, stopping all traffic between the two floors of the department store, I continued walking, trying to pretend that Curt didn’t belong to me. It didn’t work – He yelled, Mom, I didn’t mean to do that, and came running toward me. So as everyone turned toward me, I had to claim him.
I am God’s child and He does claim me, even when I mess up and when my actions cause Him to cringe. There are so many times when I don’t make my Father proud, but I wonder - if I were to always put Him in my story - would I make as many mistakes as I do?
When I’m talking to someone who wants to complain about someone else, will I listen and repeat the gossip if God is a central part of my own story?
When I wake up in the morning, if I remember that God is a major part of my story, will I thank Him for the sunshine? Or will I complain that I have to get out of that comfortable bed?
When I sit down to eat, if I remember that God is the giver of everything good in my story, will I thank Him for my food?
When I’m hurt or afraid, do I remember that God is with me in this story? If I do, He gives me strength and calms my fears.
Recently we were in the Badlands and a terrible hailstorm came up. My granddaughters and I had just walked away from the truck and were looking at the gorgeous rock formations. Just then the clouds let go of some rain and then some hail. I called to my granddaughters that it was starting to hail and to run for the truck. They did – by this time the hail was getting bigger. I’m not as fast as I used to be, so I knew I couldn’t make it to the truck without getting hit by the golf-ball size hail, but I was able to reach a two sided shelter. From that shelter I couldn’t see what was going on with the family, but I prayed that they’d made it to the truck. The hail continued to fall, banging on the roof and sides of that shelter – hitting the ground and bouncing up and hitting my legs. As I put my face in the corner, and covered my head as best I could. I have to honestly say I was afraid for the safety of my family and for myself. I prayed there in that corner. The storm lasted for a long time, but when it finally let up I found my family mostly unhurt. The hail had broken the window and cut my granddaughter’s face a bit. The truck was quite damaged, but we were all safe. God was with us, and I knew it. He is the creator of the storm, and the master of it. He was the hero of that story.Maybe if I remember how strong God is, if I remember that He gave me this life, if I remember that He cares deeply for me – If I remember to make Him Lord of my life – If I remember that He has written the story, He will smile and be pleased with my efforts to please Him. But even when I don’t remember, when I don’t please Him, He loves me, cause I’m His kid, and so are you.
