Welcome back to the fifth of these Advent thoughts about “God’s Love Story”! Have you wondered how my father overcame the obstacle of distance in his love story?
In that same February 2, 1941 letter, my father wrote, “She’s a perfectly lovely looking girl with that beautiful English coloring and complexion and she has the sweetest personality. She’s the kind of girl that I would never have any doubts about and I know that you would love her.” His interest in her only intensified over the next week.
February 11, 1941… “I’ve never had anything so strange happen to me as this thing about nice Joan Lee-Cole, whom I was telling you about last week. I haven’t seen her of course since that one evening a week ago Friday, and I don’t even remember exactly what she looks like – except that she’s sweet and a little taller than my sister Priscilla. But the ridiculous thing is that I still wake up every morning about 5:00 or 5:30 thinking about her, and it’s terrible, because with this loss of sleep I feel like a wreck during the morning. Of course this has been partially stimulated by two awfully nice letters I received [from her] this week in reply to mine, and I almost think that perhaps she has a bliss feeling too! Isn’t it amazing?”
There is a thrill about meeting someone special and falling in love, but imagine discovering the other person finds the same delight in you! In Luke 15, Jesus tells us how the Prodigal Son returned home and was overwhelmed by his father’s welcome. If that father rejoiced when his son came back, we can be confident the Lord too has a broad grin on His face when we turn to Him!
Think back on your own life. Were you excited to first know Christ? Believe me, the feeling was mutual. He was just as excited to welcome you into His family.
