In my last blog I shared that my 88 year-old Momma had come to live with my husband and me. She celebrated her 89th birthday on May 27, 2017. It was a quiet celebration with family coming and going all that week. The first part of the week she was in the hospital for the third time in less than a month. She did get to return home on Friday. But before she was released from the hospital we learned that she would probably be leaving her earthly body and home in the near future. After the very strong medications she was given in the hospital improved her status from critical to good, she was feeling more like herself. She was so happy and thrilled with all the visitors that were coming to spend time with her. And this continued over the weekend after we got home. When I explained to her that I had not been able to plan and have a birthday party for her due to her back-to-back hospitalizations she told me that it was OK. She said she had the best birthday just getting to be with everyone who had visited with her.
Now I will go back to the first week Momma was with us in January. As I tucked her in bed one evening she looked up at me and said, “I am just a baby.” I replied, “That is OK Momma, cause Butch & I have been talking about having a baby.” (Butch and I are beyond child-bearing years!) Butch who was in our den and overheard us added, “And we were wanting a baby girl!” So I told her, “No worries, Momma! We are happy to have you as our baby girl!”
As the weeks passed and I tucked her in every night and we had prayed together, she would often say “Good night Momma”. After we got home from the last hospital visit Butch and I both were needed to tuck her in each night. She would look to her left at Butch and say “Good night, Daddy.” Then she would look to her right and say “Good night, Momma.” Most nights I had to fight back the tears as I realized how dependent she was on us for her security and daily needs. How vulnerable she was as an 89 year-old woman in the last stage of Parkinson’s disease and the other health issues that only complicated her life more. To know that she could rest with the confidence that “her Momma and Daddy” were there to take care of her and love her with tenderness and have her best interests at heart meant more than words could express. We were not able to exchange our usual “Good nights” the last few nights she was with us and I missed that. But I prayed that she knew that her “Momma and Daddy” were still right there with her all through each night and day until she left us for her eternal home and family.
In the days since Momma slipped into the arms of Jesus, I have often thought about our nightly exchanges of shared prayers and our “Good night”, “I love you”. I keep having this thought cross my mind: What a picture this is of the relationship our Heavenly Father longs to have with us. Just as my Momma made the choice to depend on Butch and me, we have the choice to depend on Jesus for all our needs. No matter how old I am or my health issues or any distress I may be experiencing, I can tell my Heavenly Father “Good night, Daddy” and “I love You” each night. He offers the eternal assurance that He will be with me, take care of me, and love me all of my life. Even more tenderly and with more compassion & love than Butch and I were able to share with Momma.
So as I close this writing I would encourage you that if you have someone to tuck in each night, to think about the depth of what your “Good night and I love you” really means to them. Then think about your Heavenly Father and all He means to you as He tucks you in each night…His love and compassion that nothing can compare too. Do you even realize He wants you to be aware that He longs to tuck you in each night?
I close with these scriptures to remind you how precious we are to our Heavenly Father:
(Yes, I am preaching to myself again too.)
But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Matthew 10:30
He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches). To him who overcomes (conquers), I will give to eat of the manna that is hidden, and I will give him a white stone with a new name engraved on the stone, which no one knows or understands except he who receives it.
Revelation 2:12
The Lord appeared from of old to me [Israel], saying, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you. Jeremiah 31:3
Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]
Hebrews 13:5
38 For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things [a]impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers,
39 Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39
15 [And the Lord answered] Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet I will not forget you.
16 Behold, I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of My hands; [O Zion] your walls are continually before Me.
Isaiah 49:15-16
You number and record my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle—are they not in Your book?
Psalm 58:6
16 For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ([a]unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
John 3:16
In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places (homes). If it were not so, I would have told you; for I am going away to prepare a place for you.
John 14:2
13 For I the Lord your God hold your right hand; I am the Lord, Who says to you, Fear not; I will help you!
Isaiah 41:13
4 God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be anguish (sorrow and mourning) nor grief nor pain any more, for the old conditions and the former order of things have passed away.
Revelation 21:4
4 Even to your old age I am He, and even to hair white with age will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry and will save you.
Isaiah 46:4
The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]!
Habakkuk 3:19
But instantly He spoke to them, saying, Take courage! I AM! Stop being afraid.
Matthew 14:27
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
15 For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!
16 The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.
Romans 8:14-16
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