Good News

Psalm 91:15 —
When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honour them.

I reckon I was an okay daughter to my parents growing up. Okay if you took an average of the first 18 years. My first decade I was delightful, polite, well-behaved, a tad precocious perhaps. The teenage years hit hard. I was rude, sullen, aggressive, and downright mean. I remember one particular moment where my mother, the gentle and patient Rev. Rai, actually kicked me out of a car because my constant stream of sarcasm had finally become too much. And I don’t blame her. I’m lucky to be able to say I don’t have many regrets in my life, but the way I treated my loving family as a teenager is one of them. They didn’t deserve it, neither my parents nor my siblings. I didn’t deserve that they were still there for me anyway.

My family aren’t perfect, they’re human beings, but the unconditional love and forgiveness that they gave me even when I was a brat is one of the biggest reasons that I believed and trusted in my heavenly father. I know that not everyone has the blessing of a loving family. But everyone has a loving God, one who calls you his precious child.

You are his beloved even if you don’t believe he exists. You are his adopted child even when you doubt him. You are the one he died for even if you ignore him. He will rescue you regardless, all you need to do is call his name.

My sins are many and my good works are few. Praise the Lord, that is not what my salvation relies upon! My entrance to heaven relies on the one whose sins are none and who is perfect in every way. He loves me, Hallelujah.

Father, thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you for your faithfulness, your love, and for the place in heaven you have prepared for me. Amen.

Esther Rai