Hey Everyone! Caroline here!
Today I want to share with you something truly amazing. As I have been away from home the past nine months God has been moving and working in my family back in the States. The following letter is one written by my beautiful Mom, Laura. I’m going to let her speak to you first, and then I’ll jump back in right at the end.
“To say that my faith was shaken would be a gross underestimation. I was a Christian, my husband was a Christian, and we had purposed to raise our six wonderful kids in the Lord. And then… my world disintegrated.
My husband and I divorced and all that was left was carnage in the aftermath. My children had suffered such devastation, and my heart as a mother was shattered into a million pieces because I, their Mom who had kissed away all their boo-boos, couldn’t protect them from this pain. And I railed against the Lord.
The TRUTH in all of this is for so many years I put my Christian face on every morning, and did what I felt I should to walk out this walk. I had “experiences” with the Lord during that season of my life. I thought that was the way it was supposed to be.
I lived from “experience” to “experience” and I tasted and could see that the Lord was good, but in between “experiences” I faltered, I fell, and I got banged up… until the next experience. The whole while I believed that this was the way a Christian lived. That is a lie. That is the way someone who is not completely and totally surrendered to the Lord lives.
But our God, He is FAITHFUL.
Fast-forward 12 years to a very ordinary day for me, that is, until my son called me to chat. He simply asked me, “Mom can I pray for you?” Now, I can honestly say I don’t know how many years it had been since anyone had asked me that question. As he prayed, he asked the Lord to heal my mothers heart… and the flood gates opened. The Lord, in His lovingkindness, touched that place in my heart that I had sealed off, and He began to heal me.
He drew me in to His presence in a way that only He can. He has come to me, restoring things that I had long left for dead. He has shown me how prideful I was and how I was trying, in vain, to carry everything myself. How I tried to protect my children in my own strength, and how when I failed, I blamed Him.
The last 12 years the Lord, in all His mercy, has allowed me to limp along in my own strength until finally I could limp no more. The moment I completely surrendered my will, the Lord has come in like a flood. He has me. All of me. The difference now is that instead of living from “experience” to “experience” I have ENCOUNTERED the Lord, and an encounter with the Lord is what changes us. It changes us from a Saul to a Paul.
I KNOW now how much the Lord loves me. I AM REDEEMED AND HE HAS SET ME FREE!!! He has filled me with so much love that I can’t help but tell everyone I see, “God loves you!! You are His creation and He thinks you are amazing!” He has placed a fire in me, a fire that will never be quenched, and I want the world to KNOW just how much He loves us.”
As I sit here rereading this letter from my mom I’m holding back tears, because this testimony is not just about my mom. Over the past twelve years I have seen God capture the hearts of my dad, my sisters, and my brothers. He has utterly and completely changed my family, and not a single one of us are the same as we once were; lost without God. Not anymore!
What I want to say to anyone reading this is short, but oh so important.
If you have loved ones who are not walking with the Lord; do not give up hope. God IS working. God IS moving. God has NOT forgotten them. He sees how your heart longs for your loved one to enter into a relationship with Him. He longs for it far more than you ever could. Keep praying. You WILL see the fruit of your prayers.
And to anyone reading this who does not yet know the Lord: God loves you. He always has, and He always will. Whether you are ignoring God, running from Him, or you don’t even know who He is, He loves you. The life that you can have with Him has nothing to do with religion, and it’s not just a ticket out of hell. God created us with the purpose and design of being in a relationship with Him. It is why we exist. I am praying that even right now God begins stirring up your spirit; you may not understand it, but He is going to put a fire in your soul that you cannot ignore. There is a hole there that only He can fill. Seek Him out, and He will find you.
I love you all, but He loves you infinitely more.
