Easter.
The day we celebrate the greatest gift of love ever given to mankind. It is the day we remember that even though we live in a world marked by sin, pain, suffering, darkness and death, in the end love wins. Sin is conquered, pain and suffering are not forever, the Light of the world has come and chased away even the shadows, and death has been left in grave.
Life, light, beauty, and righteousness are gifts given to us through the miracle of Easter. And our greatest calling, as recipients of these gifts, may be to simply let God love us.
We sometimes complicate what God wants to make so simple.
God is love.
That simple statement is sometimes hard for us to grasp, precisely because it is so profound in it's simplicity.
Recently I saw this love played out in the life of a woman I did not even know. And yet God's love touched me deeply simply because she let God love her. While I did not know her personally I believe her story has much to teach us.
Carla was a woman who lived a life that was hard in many ways. She probably never imagined that her life would ever touch people in the ways that it did. As I understand it, she sought God, she wanted to follow Him, but she also struggled. Life had been difficult and she carried a lot of hurt and bitterness. In time, she became homeless, living in a tent by the river. Two people with a heart for the homeless, Dawn and Frankie, met her and began to share God's love with her. About the same time, she became ill, and after many tests it was found she had cancer. I don't know all the details but I do know she was a very sick lady. Within about six weeks the doctors said they could do nothing more for her. At this point Dawn and Frankie said she could come home with them and they walk the last steps of this journey with her. In their home, Carla truly gave her heart to Jesus, excepting His gift of love. Dawn and Frankie prayed and shared with her, and she gave her burdens to Him, expressed forgiveness for those who had hurt her, and simply allowed God to love her and free her. Within a couple days she lapsed into a coma and about a week later she passed away. In a way, this story seems to have a sad ending, but at her memorial service, which, even thought I had never met her personally, I had the privilege of attending, I learned there was so much more to the story.
You see, as her friends, her family, friends of Dawn and Frankie, who walked alongside them, learned of the peace and joy that Carla found in her last days, they wanted the same. They saw and heard how Carla had found freedom in God's love and they wanted to experience that freedom as well. Even as Carla lay in coma, in her testimony was drawing others to Him. As Frankie told it, many who visited, called, and video chatted left the experience changed.
And what did Carla do? She let God love her. That's all. She let God love her!
This Easter, when we celebrate the greatest gift of love ever known to mankind, may we remember that sometimes, maybe always, our greatest calling is to let God love us! Because it is only then, living in the His love, that His love can flow through us to others.
Comments
Post a Comment