As I was getting ready this morning I was reminded of a time back in the 1980's when I was in my mid to late 20's. I was living alone in an apartment in Bloomington and had been a Christian for about 2 years. I was finding the Christian life to be a struggle and not as much fun as I used to have before committing my life to Christ and pledging to follow Him.
One Sunday night as I was lying in bed feeling very single, lonely and depressed, I cried out to God and told Him that I wanted to know if He really loved ME -- or was I just one of billions of people in a huge blob of humanity to Him? I know that Jesus died for all of mankind and I was certainly thankful for that. But I wanted to know if He knew and cared about me as an individual. You may think that's a silly and selfish thing to think, but if you've ever been unbearably lonely in a large city surrounded by people, you might understand how I felt.
That night I asked God to show me if He loved ME in a way that I would know it was Him. I didn't specify how He should let me know. I just asked Him to show me. Yet, deep down, I really wasn't expecting anything to happen. I went to sleep and forgot about my request the next day.
I came home from work the following Wednesday and opened my apartment door. There in the hallway was a balloon bouquet! The balloons were attached to a long box on the floor filled with flowers and the milar balloon attached to it said "I LOVE YOU." I dropped to my knees with tears in my eyes. I had always wanted to receive a balloon bouquet with flowers and had never received one -- and no one else knew how much I had hoped one day to get one. Who could have sent them and how in the world did they get into my apartment? I opened the card which said "You are loved" on the front and inside of the card I was told I was special and how much God loves me. I suddenly realized that God had just shown me that He knew me as an individual. Only He knew how much I wanted a balloon bouquet with flowers and He was the first to give me one. My heart was overwhelmed!
I suspected that a human had to have gotten that gift to me so I called my landlady and asked if she knew if anyone had been in my apartment. She said a lady had come and asked to be let into my apartment and that it was urgent that she leave the bouquet. The landlady didn't let her in but took the bouquet from her and put it in my apartment herself. I got the lady's name and recognized her as someone from Grace Church Edina (now Grace Church Eden Prairie). She was someone I knew of, but not well at all. I called her up to thank her for the encouraging bouquet and she said it was from the Lord. She said the Lord had strongly impressed upon her spirit that morning that she should go buy me a balloon bouquet and flowers and write out a card telling me how much God loved me. I was totally blown away because I was virtually a stranger to her and yet she was willing to spend time and money to do what she heard the Lord telling her to do. She felt she was on a mission and rushed all over that morning to put together the gift for me, but had no idea she was being used to answer a specific prayer. I'm so thankful that she was willing to be His hands and feet.
The flowers are long since gone but somewhere in the many boxes in my house is the card and a balloon that says "I LOVE YOU." I will try to find it and am thankful that I was reminded of it today.
One Sunday night as I was lying in bed feeling very single, lonely and depressed, I cried out to God and told Him that I wanted to know if He really loved ME -- or was I just one of billions of people in a huge blob of humanity to Him? I know that Jesus died for all of mankind and I was certainly thankful for that. But I wanted to know if He knew and cared about me as an individual. You may think that's a silly and selfish thing to think, but if you've ever been unbearably lonely in a large city surrounded by people, you might understand how I felt.
That night I asked God to show me if He loved ME in a way that I would know it was Him. I didn't specify how He should let me know. I just asked Him to show me. Yet, deep down, I really wasn't expecting anything to happen. I went to sleep and forgot about my request the next day.
I came home from work the following Wednesday and opened my apartment door. There in the hallway was a balloon bouquet! The balloons were attached to a long box on the floor filled with flowers and the milar balloon attached to it said "I LOVE YOU." I dropped to my knees with tears in my eyes. I had always wanted to receive a balloon bouquet with flowers and had never received one -- and no one else knew how much I had hoped one day to get one. Who could have sent them and how in the world did they get into my apartment? I opened the card which said "You are loved" on the front and inside of the card I was told I was special and how much God loves me. I suddenly realized that God had just shown me that He knew me as an individual. Only He knew how much I wanted a balloon bouquet with flowers and He was the first to give me one. My heart was overwhelmed!
I suspected that a human had to have gotten that gift to me so I called my landlady and asked if she knew if anyone had been in my apartment. She said a lady had come and asked to be let into my apartment and that it was urgent that she leave the bouquet. The landlady didn't let her in but took the bouquet from her and put it in my apartment herself. I got the lady's name and recognized her as someone from Grace Church Edina (now Grace Church Eden Prairie). She was someone I knew of, but not well at all. I called her up to thank her for the encouraging bouquet and she said it was from the Lord. She said the Lord had strongly impressed upon her spirit that morning that she should go buy me a balloon bouquet and flowers and write out a card telling me how much God loved me. I was totally blown away because I was virtually a stranger to her and yet she was willing to spend time and money to do what she heard the Lord telling her to do. She felt she was on a mission and rushed all over that morning to put together the gift for me, but had no idea she was being used to answer a specific prayer. I'm so thankful that she was willing to be His hands and feet.
The flowers are long since gone but somewhere in the many boxes in my house is the card and a balloon that says "I LOVE YOU." I will try to find it and am thankful that I was reminded of it today.
To those of you who are reading this post, please know that God loves you too, as an individual. You are not just part of the crowd to Him.
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