Reconciliation and Redemption-The
Letter
By Jeannine Sawall
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:9 (NIV)
It had started out as an ordinary
day. My husband and children were gone, and so I had a small window of time to
be alone. As I pieced through the mail, there was a letter addressed to me. So
preoccupied with what should be for dinner, I didn’t really look at the sender’s
name. I opened up the letter and began to read:
“Dear Jeannine,
You should probably sit down as you
read this…”
Oh great! My first thought was it
was one of those “send a dollar to the first name on this list and in six
months you’ll be a millionaire” letters. I read on:
“I
want you to know I have never stopped thinking of you. This is Larry and I am
your_____________.”
I stopped reading as my heart began
to pound. This letter was from my biological father with whom I had had almost
no contact during my life. The letter said he had always wanted to have a
relationship with me, but things in his life had made it difficult. As the
years went on, he felt he had lost the right to even ask for one. He wanted to meet
me and then let me decide how I’d like to proceed, if at all, with a
relationship.
I started to cry. I had no idea hearing
from him would cause such strong emotions within me. Why now? Why not before? I was challenged to
be available to God to work in me and through me. As I considered what God
might be orchestrating, I also had fears, “What if he doesn’t like me?” “What
if I don’t like him?” But there was one fear that stopped me in my tracks. “Lord, if you are sending Larry now because
you are planning on taking my mom, then I DON’T want him.” I wasn’t sure what
the Lord was doing and I wasn’t sure I was ready to go where He was leading.
But I also knew His ways are not my ways and so I knew I had to trust Him.
This letter was unexpected but I now
had a choice with how I would respond, and if I would trust God’s leading. Tomorrow,
we’ll see the next part of this incredible story where God chose to teach me
about reconciliation and redemption.
GOING
DEEPER:
- When something out of the ordinary happens,
how do you recognize God’s hand in it?
- What do you do when fear makes you question
the path God is taking you down?
FURTHER
READING:
