Her place in the family

I walked around the kitchen corner yesterday into the dining room and stopped in my tracks.  Es was standing in front of the buffet table staring at a picture in a frame.  As soon as she saw me, she looked up at me with a puzzled expression and pointed to the picture.  It occurred to me that she was looking at a photo we took when D-Dog was a newborn.

Thanks for not saying out loud, "Wow, she was thinner after having a baby than she is now!"  :)

I am so thankful that God allows me to see underneath the surface of some moments.  Believe me...I don't catch nearly all of them.  But, I love it when He points out to me that there is more happening in this moment than just a child looking at a photo.

She was looking for HERSELF in the picture.  She saw her mama and baba and her slightly younger brothers and she was looking for herself.  She pointed and asked me, "Where Es?"  I did my best to explain to her that she wasn't born yet.  She was just a dream in mama's heart.  But she didn't understand.  She kept pointing to baby D and insisting that it was her.

Did you catch that?

SHE KNOWS SHE BELONGS HERE!  WE ARE HER FAMILY!  Yes, I'm screaming :)  It is so monumental in her bonding!

My eyes filled up with tears and I just grabbed her and hugged her tight.

She was an orphan...left in a dirty world to fend for herself in a box, next to a field.  And now...she is a prized and secure member of our family.  That is miraculous.  That is redemption!

A scripture verse that God has put on my heart this week is this:
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrated His great love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This hit me in the gut.  We were ALL sinners.  None of us belonged to a family of hope...of love...of grace.  But because of Christ, we can.

When I look at the figurative picture of what Christ did for me...The family he died to make me part of...  I know I belong.  It feels amazing.  But I know I have beautiful loving friends that see the picture and don't really know if they belong.  They are good, compassionate people...but doubt lives in their hearts.  What does it mean to live for Christ?  Do I have to become some weird Bible toting freak show?  Will I lose all my friends?  Do I have to stop dating, drinking, blah blah blah...

Friends....God demonstrated HIS great love for us!  That's the part we miss.  He meets us where we are.  We don't have to become perfect to FIT into the family picture.  He will gladly take us broken and dirty.  He will lovingly clean us up and show us what life can really look like.

If you don't have a church home, I implore you...please join me at our church this weekend.  I'll post the info to my fb page.   I'm singing this weekend...so I'll be there for all four services.  If you tell me you're coming..I'll sit by ya...feed you M&M's while Paul teaches, and draw hearts on your program.  I'm totally willing to sit in ALL four services if I have people in my life to sit with.  We can totally sit in the back, hiding behind a big hat and you can escape immediately after the service.

The truth is this.  I love you.  If you are in my life (and even if I haven't met you yet)  I love you.  Because of God's great love for us, I love you.  I want to be sitting next to you (or on your lap) in the FAMILY picture! :)  So, come join me!!!  :)

Let's do EASTER together this year!
What do ya say???