Some of you have followed along with my nephew, Brad, and his blog – Dear Elias – written to his toddler son, Eli. Brad’s growing faith through painful young life circumstances is just too precious and inspirational not to share.
Brad, I love you, and I am cheering you from the great cloud of witnesses. We see you, and we are cheering. Jesus has you by the hand, son, and He won’t ever let you go. I pray you won’t make Him chase you in the far off land… You’ve experienced, as I have, what it feels like to have Him break a leg and carry you back on His shoulders – lovingly healing you back to obedience.
Be blessed, Brad, to follow Jesus and lead your family. Be blessed, precious reader, to know God’s arm is not too short, and His faithfulness and grace have no end…
Welcome, Bradley, to Saturday Share ~
Dear Elias,
It’s Thanksgiving night, 2017. You and your mother are both right beside me in bed sound asleep, I should be asleep right now considering it’s 3am. I guess you could say I’m a bit stunned. my mind has been doing circles for the past few hours so I finally decided to get what words I could out of my head.
Just a few months ago I was laying here, in this exact spot. I had felt shipwrecked, lost, and even forgot about. This room is stained in some way with a constant reminder of loneliness. while in the same exact place, a few short months later, I feel at home. I feel at peace, the kind that makes those bad memory’s feel not so bad after all. I prayed for this. Long hard hours, sometimes I would stay up till the sunlight broke through the window or my eyes finally refused to stay open. I prayed for my family, and now I’m laying next to you and mommy.
I’m not sure how God will reveal his existence to you, bug. I’m not sure how many times he will call you by name before you even start to believe that he is. But if I do know anything right now, it’s that he’s good. He really is good.
Now bug, don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way certain that God is good just because he answers prayers in our selfish favors. Often times he doesn’t do it in a way we want, but sometimes, special moments in life capture this deep feeling of awe, deep deep down in your heart. It’s a let out a long slow breath kinda deep. It’s the best, and it will reassure you of his goodness, I promise you that.
When you experience these moments, be grateful, soak it in. let God restore and redirect your heart. The best is yet to come.
I love you so much Elias, always have and I always will.
Love,
Dad
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Some sage advice from King David on how to best live out our days on this earth:
Trust in the Lord and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.
Be still before the Lord
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found.
But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy peace and prosperity. Psalm 37:3-11
Such a tender hearted letter to his young son. Thank you for sharing, Lisa. It’s scary to think our children going astray, but yes and Amen to His arms being long enough to reach all His children no matter where. In Christ, Julie
Thanks, Julie, for taking time to read more of Brad’s story. It’s been amazing and inspirational to join in prayers with him and for him and to see God provide in so many wonderful and unexpected ways! I’m grateful God’s arm was not too short to snatch me up out of my own pit dwelling.
I so appreciate you join in and adding value to the conversations here. Bless you, on your journey with Jesus, getting to know Him more and more. Eyes on Him… you’re Shining! ~Lisa