Life Changing Love
It was Friday and I was taking my foster son out of the car after dropping the big kids off at school. Smiling at that darling face, I hefted him onto my hip and smooched my thousandth kiss. He buried his little head in my neck and I marveled again at my love for him.
Because despite the fact that he’s not from my body, I love this baby boy.
The way he smiles from the inside out. Peach fuzz head and ears that poke out. His double chin and chunky thighs. The unbelievable softness of his skin. His little arm hooked around my neck. I love how he’s found his feet and thinks they’re hilarious. I love that he loves my singing voice even though it’s hideous. I love the way he grins with two fingers stuck in his mouth and a line of drool dripping down. I love that his favorite place to be is with me.
I love every square inch of this new chick with a fierceness I could not have predicted. But as I considered my deep affection for him, I remembered again the possibility that we might get separated soon. And if that happens chances are good that he will never know about me. Or my love for him. And that thought shatters my heart. Every. Single. Time.
Because I’m eager. Desperate. Passionate for him to know my love.
I want him to know that he brings me unspeakable joy. How I think he’s wonderful and that I love to simply sit and stare at him. I want him to know the way I marvel over who he is and covet his continued presence in my life. To know I am jealous for him and would do anything to protect him. How I am for him. And that I yearn for a relationship with him that does not end. I want him to know I wish my place in his life was secure. That I shake with sobs over the thought of losing him. And most of all this: That if it were up to me, he would never go a day without experiencing my love for him.
Because my love has the power to change everything for him. In him. Around him. About him. Love is a game changer. A life changer. It transforms circumstances and casts out fears and fights offenders and offers a home. And given the chance I would apply it to his life over and over and over again. I could change the trajectory of his life with it.
As I stood in the driveway with love for my foster son overwhelming my heart, God gently reminded me how weeks ago I had asked Him to help me grasp the depth of his love. And then He said.
Ya’ll, I grasped hold of it. How he deeply adores me. How he graciously pursued me. How he gave everything to have me. It was the single most profound experience of God’s love I’ve ever been wrecked with.
And I was suddenly, shockingly, irreversibly compelled to share it with those who have not taken hold of it. Not His Lordship. Not His Faithfulness. Not His Majesty. His Life Changing Love.
It is life changing love.
Do you know someone who needs to hear about (or be reminded of) God’s love for them? Share this with them! God might just use it to change a life.
Just wanted you to know God used your post to speak to me this morning. I have been needing to write a friend a letter sharing the Gospel with her, and just haven’t felt like I knew where to start. After I read this, I wrote the letter and am mailing it with a Bible. Thanks for the reminder that when we know God’s love, we can’t help but share it!
Praise the Lord for that!! Sweet sister, that just encourages me so! Thank you for taking the time to tell me.
Love reading your posts, almost as good as afternoon visits with a Diet Coke!
Thank you, Cheryl! That really made me smile.
Oh my goodness… I am crying as I read this because I feel every word. Every. Single. Word. And that song– it’s the lullaby I sang to my Little Man every day between when I picked him up from the hospital until I placed him back into his mama’s arms. <3 <3
Oh sweet lady. Your hurt is not lost on me.