"When the Father Says I Love You"

It was Labor Day weekend and I was at the Northwoods in Michigan having an absolute blast!!

Have you ever gone somewhere far away from city lights and noise and city scum, and just bask in the awesomeness of the sky, stars, etc. The Northwoods is God’s country right there. I think the garden of Eden must have been there.

My last night in Northwoods, I dragged my mattress outside on the balcony and brought out my blankets and pillows. It was a quiet, clear night as I lay on my back looking up at the stars. The moonlight reflected on the water. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I looked up at the myriad of stars. Wow had I forgotten there were so many up there! I could even see the edge of the Milky Way galaxy!!

Earlier that evening, a group of us had run outside to see the Northern lights. I had not gotten to see the shooting start that everyone was exclaiming at so that night as I lay there alone I said to God “Show me a shooting star.” I looked up at the sky for a few minutes and in the next split second, a shooting star flew by. Wow that was beautiful! “Let me see another one, one more God…” I said. A few more minutes and there it went—another shooting star! This was fun. So personal. It was magical. As if scripted for my heart. God knows what takes your breath away, what makes your heart beat faster.

Then in the quiet of my spirit I felt God say, “Cristina remember what you asked me for when you were 15?” I smiled. “Yeah I remember.” I was out in the mountains doing mission work with my family. At night I was watching the stars and I asked Him for two things. I said ‘God do you see all those stars in the sky? That’s how many people I want to impact for You. That’s how many people I want to take with me to Heaven when I go. But one more thing I ask, give me the boldness of a lion so that I can open my mouth and You can use me.’”

A few months later, right after my birthday, I was sitting in my room looking for another book in the Bible to start reading, when the thought came: Deuteronomy. I thought, well heck if I’m going to do Old Testament, I might as well start from the beginning. But again came the thought: Deuteronomy. So I started from chapter one. I hadn’t gotten far into Chapter One when verse 10 popped out at me: “The Lord your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.” Stars? “the stars of heaven for a multitude…” But it gets better: v.11 “(The Lord God of your fathers make you a thousand times so more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!”) Wow. That’s one massive promise.

I had to re-read those two verses quite a few times before I fully grasped their meaning. I don’t think I’ve fully gotten it yet. But that will be my verse for the year, and my whole life. Until the Kingdom of God to begins to break through a time-space world, and the darkness can be broken over the eyes of men. God wants to put us in strategic places where we can influence the nations. And what a special privilege that God would call us to take His glory to the world.