The Card: Where God Stretched Out His Hand, Part 3

(Read Part 1, Part 2)

Three miscarriages.  Feeling utterly broken.  Uncertain if we'd ever have children.

A fortune cookie that week held the saying, "You'll find hope from an unexpected source."  Part of my tossed it aside cynically, while another part clung to the possibility that it could be true.  Anything to get through the pain that I was feeling as I put on the mask each day that everything was alright.

That long week before Christmas break was finally ending, and our class had begun the Christmas party.  Just a few more hours to get through, then I could go home and collapse in my misery.  One of my students came up and handed me a Christmas card.  I thanked her, and set it aside to open later.  After the students were busy eating their treats, I picked up the envelope.

What I found when I pulled the card out nearly knocked me to the floor.   Instead of the generic holiday card that I was expecting, it was a Christian sympathy card that read, "To Comfort You in Your Sorrow" and quoted Psalm 34:18 on the front.

The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.
Psalm 34:18

Inside, the words "May you find courage to face the days ahead as you lean on God's everlasting arms" were printed.  In the sprawling print of a 4th grader, it was signed with a Merry Christmas and her name.

I hadn't told any of the teachers at school or my students that I was expecting.  My mask had been carefully held in place that week so as not to worry my students.  No one there knew!

As I stood there holding the card with shaking hands, I realized that there was only one explanation ~ somehow God himself had steered that little girl's hand to select this card that looked nothing like a holiday greeting.

That meant that not only did HE know me, but that HE knew what I was going through.  The creator of the universe knew my pain and my hurt at that moment.

For the first time in my life, I knew without a doubt that not only was God real, but that He loved me.  Despite everything that I had done, all the wrong paths and time spent neglecting Him, all the years spent searching for fulfillment from the world ~ God loved me!

And while the pain and the heartbreak for our baby was still fresh and sharp, on that afternoon something new began to grow inside my  heart.  Joy!  Hope!  Gratitude!  I carried the card around for the rest of the afternoon like gold, showing it to any adult in sight, explaining just what God had done for me.

That day was the beginning of a new life, though I didn't realize that at the time.  Over that Christmas break, my relationship with God became real, and I committed my life to Jesus Christ.  I found a church home again after more than a decade, and was baptized as a sign of this new found realization of just how much I needed Him as my savior and Lord.

All because of the obedience of a young girl, who let God steer her hand to work a small miracle in the life of her teacher.