Oh how He loves us.
I have just had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It brought tears to my heart and joy to my heart. But I need to start from the beginning.
I got frustrated tonight. Frustrated that people I love and care about don’t always act in ways that show they love and care for me…that the people I love aren’t perfect. I began to think about Jesus and his friends. Jesus, the Son of God, had friends that abandoned Him, betrayed Him, doubted Him…and He still loved them, enough to die a criminal’s death on a cross. Surely if Christ can love those who turned their backs on Him I can resist the temptation to give in to my frustration.
I realized that I had, yet again, let the day go by without spending any real time with my God. I decided to take advantage of the clear night and gaze out my window at God’s beautiful creation in the stars. I listened to Phil Wickham’s song “Beautiful” as I gazed, and I sat there truly amazed at how beautiful the sky was, and how beautiful my God is. I poured out my heart to Him, the pain and frustration I felt, and the need I had to know that someone cared about me enough to show me their love.
I remembered a passage I had read in “Captivating”, a favorite book of mine. The author tells about a time when she was walking on a beach and asked God for a ‘present’, a special gift just for her. God blessed her with one (I won’t spoil the story, you’ll have to read the book for yourself!). I asked God if He would send me a shooting star…not as proof, not as evidence, but as a gift. Then I asked myself, “Who am I to ask the God of the universe to send me a gift?”
I closed my eyes, reflecting on His great and mighty love, listening to the lyrics of the song. I opened my eyes…and watched as a bright star fell from the sky, its blazing tail glowing behind it. God has sent me a star…not as proof, not as evidence, but as a gift of love. It was one of the most intimate moments I have ever had with my Creator, and I couldn’t keep the tears from flowing down my face.
My first instinct was to wake my friend and tell her, or call my mom and share the story. A voice in my head said, “Of course you want to share it, show it off. Why can’t you just enjoy this moment with God?” And then, oddly, the song “Go Tell it on the Mountain” popped into my head. God commands us to go and tell, not sit and keep quiet! He gave me this wonderful, intimate gift not just for my own benefit, but so that I might go and tell of His awesome and mighty love!
So this is me telling it. This is me saying…frustrations will come, as will pain and hurt and stress and fear. But through it all there is a mighty, awesome, strong and faithful God of love who desires to draw near to us. A God who sends us shooting stars.
LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
-Psalms 8
Don’t go through today frustrated or in pain. Turn to God; pour out your heart to Him. He will meet you there with shooting stars and so much more.
