Lydia, the five year old foster child who came to live with us, was afraid of men and boys. She had been abused by her mother’s boy friend since she was only two years old. She asked me if Jack was “safe”, and I told her, “ Yes, He won’t hurt you.” It wasn’t long before she did trust him, and one day Jack invited her to go to a nearby park and look for turtles. She was delighted and they went off with a bucket to hold the turtles they would find.

It turned out to be a futile search, but as they were turning back toward home, a boy walked up to them holding a bucket full of dewberries. He asked them if they knew where the berries grew, and Jack had to say “no”, so the boy told them that the berries were quite close, and how to find them. “Then,” said Lydia to me later, “he picked the biggest berry off the top of his bucket and gave it to me!” She marveled almost as if she had had a supernatural experience. I said, “Was it good?” “Yes,” she said. It was really good! They didn’t find the berry patch, as it was getting late, but I thought that they had found something better, better even than a turtle. That night I thanked our Lord for that boy and his gift to Lydia. I felt as if the boy was an unknowing messenger of grace to a little girl who desperately needed it in her life, and my gratitude has never disappeared.

With the foster children I was daily praying for help, as each child had problems I had never confronted . Each had had experiences I had never had, and I needed “Someone else” to enter the relationship and place a path at my feet. That “someone else” actually worked on each child. I can honestly say that I didn’t achieve anything with them, but the Lord achieved great things: This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy one of Israel, says: In quietness and trust is your strength. (Isaiah 30:15) Both the Old and the New Testaments offer a relationship of ease and even rest with a sovereign God: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)

When I pick up the “burdens” of everyday life, it’s easy for me to forget this promise,and that reality; but He never forgets. He always offers something better.

Love in Him,

Prue