“Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken” (Psalm 62-5-6)
Last week I put up a prayer request for my boys to come home safely (and my parents) from a wonderful vacation. I went up to our prayer wall and pleaded with God. I asked God, begged Him, to bring them back to me. I said that I knew my children were not really mine, that they were simply in my care on earth. I told Him that I knew that if it was His will there was nothing I could do. I acknowledged my selfishness in simply wanting them back in my arms but yet I begged again. This may all sound silly to everyone. Their trip was just a routine flight from Hawaii to Iowa, and I knew that. However, in the world we live in, and not always knowing what God’s will is, I was very anxious. The sermon series on Wednesday night didn’t help: Live like you were dying because there may not be a ’someday’.
On Saturday I drove out to the airport and nervously watched. I was able to walk down as far as I could to see the runway. With the winds I knew which direction they would be coming from. Eventually I saw only the headlights of the plane and got more and more anxious/excited as the plane grew bigger. My heart leapt when I saw the wheels touch down. Then I went inside to wait. Five minutes, then 10 minutes, and they weren’t coming down that escalator yet. I leaned over the stranger to my left and verified that this was the only way out of the terminal. I waited a little bit more and I noticed tears were starting to fill in my eyes. I was so excited to see them again I was leaking! And then I saw them and I, probably making a fool of myself, quickly walked—maybe a slight jog—to them and relief flooded me and I didn’t want to stop touching them.
This morning I think of how much joy God has when He knows we have started our return trip home, which begins the moment each of us accepted Him into our hearts. He knows our journeys will be filled with unknowns, detours, turbulence, wonderful layovers, and anything else we can think of. And with our dying breath, as our own tires touchdown in Heaven, I imagine that He is joyfully waiting to hold us. And from that moment on He never lets us go again! Once again I am reminded how much God loves His children and I feel like I am swimming in blessings.
“For your unfailing love is higher than the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds” (Psalm 108: 4)
In Christ,
Judy
