Since you are precious and honored in My sight and because I love you… Isaiah 43:4 (NIV)
A text brightened the screen of my cell while I was hammering away at the keyboard, keeping up with social media, responding to email, chiseling workable story out of my current work in progress.
Eyes weary. Mind abuzz, already swollen with thoughts. No room for added info.
I steadied my hands on the keyboard, admittedly glaring at the screen as an undercurrent of “Who wants what now?” circuited through my brain.
As I glanced over, a cherry red heart punctuating the text caught my attention, along with a familiar string of emojis associated with the sender.
These… 💚😎🔥 …each one meticulously assigned to the youngest of my two sons. (‘Cause he’s a tender warrior, cool dude and Momma’s vision has weakened to the point where it’s just easier to use symbols to identify each of my kids).
Short and sweet, his message was…
Hey, just wanted to tell you I love you
Initially, my heart swelled happy. Then I thought…
Silly me. He meant that for a girl. Wait, a girl? What girl?
Or he’s having an exceptionally difficult day and needs reassurance so he served it up first?
Naw, he’s about to ask for money.
Or, pure and simple, he wanted to tell me he loved me.
❤️
If you knew this young man the answer would be easy. It’s the latter.
But the motivation behind his text isn’t the point.
My son chose to pause the happenings of his day to reassure me of what I already know.
In a similar way, I experience God doing the same, redirecting my anxious thoughts and feverish prayers for solutions with a simple,
Hey, just wanted to tell you I love you
God knows I’ve questioned His love at times…when He doesn’t answer my prayers when or how I want.
Or at all.
And I’m in that pitiful place, stuck in the wicked middle between asking and receiving an answer from Him I don’t want, not yet to the sweet spot of realization that comes when I remember everything He does (grace) and doesn’t do (mercy) is motivated out of pure love for me.
As I read and re-read my son’s text, the voice of God amplified over it with a subtle, breathy whisper…
Hey, just wanted to tell you I love you.
You’re overwhelmed with concern, ordering and prioritizing the demands of your day, tackling temptation to leave your writing desk and go clean a toilet or eat when you’re not hungry. In need of being filled.
So, I wanted to fill you, again, with truth. And truth is, I love you. You are cherished, precious, honored, and welcome. You matter, you belong, you bring me joy.
Even when I’ve chosen alternative sources of love that’ve only left me empty, God awaits my humble confession-as did the father of the prodigal son- and draws me to His heart.
I feel it beating. Because He loves me. And He has the scars to prove it.
He loves you, too.
Just wanted to tell you that. ❤️
Mary
✏️If you’d like to receive weekly story-style devotionals and a quarterly author newsletter, simply scroll down to the bottom to subscribe via email.