I watched a young boy, no older than ten or eleven, in a red shirt as he worked. The gold chain around his neck bounced as he moved towards me, handing me an English menu before walking back behind the rolled ice cream stand. He grabbed his tongs and scooped up the chocolate rolls, placing them one by one into the cup, adding an assortment of toppings, and handing it off to the paying customer with a smile. He was focused and intentional, but that smile.
It was so sweet, and it captured me.
I watched him while my friend waited for her ice cream, and I began to cry. Yes, my heart is atypically tender, but in this moment it was more than that. As I watched him, I think the Lord gave me just a glimpse of how loved that boy is. My friend and I prayed for him, though he didn’t know it, and then we headed for home. Even now, more than a day later, my eyes well with tears as I type this blog.
This is a stranger, a boy I do not know, a boy who cannot speak English, but a boy who I feel like a deep love for. It sounds crazy, and I can’t really explain it any better than I just did.
I guess that’s what God’s love is like.
It is deep, crazy, and unexplainable.
My heart cannot love at the depth of my God’s heart, and my mind cannot understand the bounds of His love for us, His sons and daughters. Perhaps He gave me this feeling, one I can’t quite describe, so I could more deeply understand His purpose in my life and His reasons from sending me halfway around the world.
Psalm 40:3, 9-10 says this:
3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him.
9 I proclaim your saving acts in the great assembly;
I do not seal my lips, Lord, as you know.
10 I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and your saving help.
I do not conceal your love and your faithfulness from the great assembly.
He gave me a new song.
He loved me and gave me a rock on which to stand.
He saved me.
That is why I must proclaim His saving acts, His faithfulness, His goodness, and His LOVE, so that “many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in Him.”
Because Jesus loves the little boy in the red shirt just as much as He loves me, and I wish I would have told him so.
Until the Whole World Hears,
Mia
