Lent 2012: 40 Days of Writing to God
Father,
Thank you for today. Thank you for another year.
Thank you for granting me the gift of full family. My mom and dad are still alive and in good health. My sister and brother are still alive and in good health. They are living in the way that makes them happy. We are not fighting. We enjoy each other’s company. I’m thankful for that, because I have friends and other family members who cannot say the same. I am most thankful for Selah. She is healthy, happy, all A student, sweet as can be and growing into the kind of woman you have entrusted in me to rear.
Forgive me for not writing to you sooner. Forgive me for putting my pen, my thoughts, my passion before you. You are always first. Thank you for reminding me. I am ash.
Thank you for my health and continued healing. At times when my body doesn’t want to cooperate with your will, it manages to get back into line. Thank you for doing that for me. I have lost dear friends and relatives this year, whose bodies had run their courses.
Thank you for Whitney Houston. Even in death you were glorified. She will rest in bliss with You. Her legacy—despite her stumbles and her struggles—end with Glorious You.
Her death reminded me of my struggle with Grandma. How sweet and how troubled; how despite the love we showered over her and the love she gave to us back, she couldn’t beat this shadow that wanted to step out of place. Grandma’s life made me understand that our soul’s are precious and there are things that we don’t or yet understand that our determined to take our unyielding joy, if we are not careful. And that we need the prayers of many and the presence of the Body of Christ to carry us when our soul’s are weak. I thank You that I am in my right mind today. My today could easily be a tragedy, because I am ash, no different than she. I thank God for the people who you have placed in my life for me to lean on and love me and shine your light to me when I can’t see you through my muck. I thank you.
I thank God for motherhood. It has taught me that life goes on and will go on when I’m gone. What I must do is to make the most of my life, to not squander this precious time. To leave a legacy that ends with Glorious you.
Psalm 103:8-14 (New International Version (NIV)
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
ith an abusive father and a “nothing mama,” she craves a place of true belonging. Over time, the gypsies that travel through town each spring offer acceptance. Then tragedy strikes and Millie leaves her world of poverty to join a prominent family on the other side of town. There, with the help of unlikely sources, Millie uncovers painful truths about her family’s past as she struggles to face a God she believes has abandoned her. When unconditional love is offered, Millie learns the power of forgiveness and finally discovers where she belongs.
"My dear child, I have not learned my Christianity from them [slave owners]. I have learned it at the foot of the cross, and from this book," she said, placing a New Testament in Iola's hands. "Some of the most beautiful lessons of faith and trust I have ever learned were from among our lowly people in their humble cabins."
