How God Used a Robbery to Let a Little Girl Know He Loved Her
On our second day in Granada, Nicaragua for debrief a few of us decided to go to the lake to do solo time and spend time with the Lord.
When we arrived to the lake after a 10-minute walk, I found a perfectly shaded spot to sit down. I got out my Bible, my pen, and my journal, and I sat… for 5 seconds.
Upon looking up, I saw that there was a herd of cattle coming our way on the shore of the lake. I grabbed my backpack—full of electronics—and I left my Bible, journal, and pen on the table I was sitting at. I quickly got up to meet Cherish, and we watched two young boys herd the cattle. Cherish and I quickly got out our cameras to record our vlogs. Cherish ended up going over the fence to try to take a picture with one of the cows. Turns out… they were bulls! One started to charge at her and she quickly ran away. With a second attempt, she ended up walking towards another bull and she ended up touching the bull’s head as it charged her. All this to say, we were preoccupied by the laughter of the situation.
When I walked back to the table I was sitting at, I noticed that my Bible, my journal, and my pen were nowhere to be found. As my heart started racing, I sprinted to the table as my eyes swiftly glanced over every spot it could be. Desperation kicked in. I took a deep breath and I turned around to tell Cherish the news—my Bible, my pen, and my journal were stolen.
Cherish and I decided to pray—what else could we do? We knew God was bigger than the situation at hand—He knew what He was doing. Cherish prayed a specific prayer—that whoever took the Bible, pen, and journal would feel the conviction to return it back to me, and that it would be an opportunity for them to hear about the grace of Jesus.
After praying, I walked somberly over to Nayelly and Carissa to tell them how my Bible and my journal had been stolen. Nayelly—who is fluent in Spanish—accompanied me to approach the vendors on the street to ask if they saw anyone take it. We went up to a little girl—probably around 8 years old—who was working as a vendor selling sodas and shaved ice. After asking her if she had witnessed anyone stealing my Bible, she said that a large man with sacks came sweeping up anything he saw and he took them.
It began to sink in—my Bible, my pen, and my journal were gone.
I felt so discouraged, so foolish, and so convicted. I walked over to an overlook of the lake and sat down on the railing. I began to weep before the Lord—apologizing to Him.
I knew He wanted to spend the morning with me. I knew He was asking me to be still and spend quality time with Him. I decided to squander our time together by taking videos and being distracted. I had been feeling like I had been depending on Scripture too much, lately, for information and wisdom, rather than a love letter from God. My heart wasn’t in the right place to read His Word, and I knew He just wanted me to spend quality time with Him—listening to His voice. I repented to Him for wasting our time by focusing on myself, and I asked Him for forgiveness. I apologized for deeming my electronics as valuables and thinking His Word wasn’t the most valuable.
The Lord got my attention.
I prayed to Him by asking for forgiveness—I poured my heart out to Him in desperation for Him to intervene—and He gave me grace.
As I wiped tears from my face, I heard a faint voice saying, “Kelsey,” being called out in the distance. As I looked up, I saw that it was Nayelly walking towards me with my Bible and journal in hand. I put my hands over my mouth and I gasped a wide sound of relief and disbelief. Joyful tears began to flood my eyes as I wondered how she found my Bible and journal.
Nayelly told me that the young, 8-year old girl we initially talked to came over to Nayelly with the journal and Bible in hand saying that she stole it.
The Lord heard our prayers.
The young, 8-year old girl felt a spirit of conviction to return my Bible and journal to me. She had the courage and boldness to own her conviction and return what she had stolen.
As soon as I heard what had happened, I thought about how thankful I was that she had decided to do the right thing. I wanted her to know how thankful I was, and how much her confession meant to me.
It reminded me of the parable of the prodigal’s son in Luke 15:11-32:
11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to[a] one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’[b] 22 But the father said to his servants,[c] ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”
While one of the sons left the father’s house and squandered all of the father’s money on things, the son came back to the father and instead of the father getting mad at the son for all the wrong he had done, the father extended grace and embraced the son thanking him for coming home.
That’s what repentance is—it’s coming home. It’s turning away from the world’s ways and turning to the Father. The Father meets us where we’re at and welcomes our home coming with a warm, giant, sloppy embrace. His love holds no records of wrongs, and His embrace shouts “YOU ARE MY BELOVED AND YOU ARE PERFECT IN MY SIGHT.” He wipes our sin away with a clean slate.
Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross—when He took on all of the sin of the world—we have been redeemed and freed from sin. He took our place—we deserve death for our sin, but because Jesus was victorious when He conquered death, rose again, and ascended into Heaven, we have eternal access to the Father if we believe in Him, repent from our sin, and believe that He has the power to wipe away our sin. Sin no longer holds power over us. He gave us His Spirit to dwell in us, and we are transformed with a Kingdom perspective because of His sacrifice. We have freedom and new life with the Father—it’s a beautiful love story.
I wanted to show her the Father’s love—a love I’m not sure she had ever felt. I approached her with a huge smile and open arms, and I embraced her. I looked into her eyes and said, “Jesús te ama” which means, Jesus loves you. I hugged her tighter and whispered, “Jesús te ama,” in her ear. I kissed her dirty, sweaty forehead and said “Muchas gracias, mi amiga,” which means, thank you very much my friend. I looked at her with loving eyes and the smile on her face extended as she shook her head. Undeserving relief. That’s what grace looks like.
Another vendor told Nayelly it was rare that the little girl confessed and returned what she had stolen. The vendor said that she had stolen things before and had not returned them when the people asked about them. This little girl was convicted by the Word of God—she knew it’s power and authority.
As I went to tell Cherish what had happened, Cherish told me we should capture the testimony on video. In the middle of recording, Nayelly walked up to me with the pen in hand. The 8-year old girl only returned my Bible and journal at first… but the spirit wasn’t done convicting her.
The girl returned my pen, as well. It wasn’t too late for her to feel freedom.
I love this for more reasons than I can write down in a blog post, but I love that she felt the Father’s love and confessed more. That’s what His love is like. We see how incredible His love is, and we want to be more like Him. We see what His goodness is like, and we want as much of it as possible. Repentance is a continuous process—it’s constantly reorienting ourselves to turn back to the Father’s heart. It’s turning from worldly ways and drawing closer to what God has originally designed us for—communion with Him.
This is a beautiful story of grace. God always knows what He is doing. He used a robbery to tell an 8-year old that He loved her. He does crazy things to pursue us. His love is reckless, and He is the ultimate pursuer.
He gives us His Kingdom perspective to trust Him along the way—trusting His name will be glorified in ALL things. We need not to worry or fret along the way, because He is making all things beautiful in His timing.
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Thanks for reading! I hope you were encouraged by it! If you liked it, be sure to comment in the comments below.
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Peace and grace,
Kels
