My faith began when I lost my doll as a young girl – and God helped me find it.
Since that first day I cried out to the only ‘genie’ I knew of, God has helped me find many, many things – from that missing letter I needed to post to the 10-year anniversary necklace in the forest… through to the assignments that seemed to vanish into the vortex of my computer… to myself.
God has been ever-present, every day, within the mundane and the significant.
And he hasn’t only helped me find myself – but find myself in him, caught up in his glorious love story.
This Easter weekend, may you seek him – the one who died for you – and rose again so that we might have life. True life. Life to the full. Life forever.
If you have the time to read it, I’ve posted a paraphrased version of a favourite story about being lost – then found in the Father’s arms…
The Story of the Lost Son
Jesus said: “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’
“So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
“That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father.
“When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’
“But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.
“All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’
“The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’
“His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’”
It's a God thing... 
We have a loving father. There is a wonderful book of Henri Nouwen ‘Canvas of Love – Reflection on a Rembrandt. It’s awesome.
We do… Awesome, will look out for it, thanks. Was actually just reading his Wounded Healer book for a course I’m doing.
Really beautiful, Ali. . .thank you! So thankful to be found in Him! God bless you and yours this Resurrection Day.
Thank you Debbie! Happy Resurrection Day to you. So grateful He found us both…
I like that story. It is a celebration to be embraced by our father, even after we lose our way.
Absolutely. Such powerful imagery…