HELP!! I NEED SOMEONE TO TALK TO…
Today’s Message of Encouragement from
Discovering A BETTER LIFE MINISTRIES
(Stories of Real People, Real Events, Real Places)
And are dedicated to providing
Spiritual FOOD FOR THOUGHT
TO HELP PEOPLE FIND HOPE THROUGH SHARING
GOD’S GRACE and LOVE
(Ron Bainbridge Editor) (February 10th, 2020)
HELP!! I NEED SOMEONE TO TALK TO…
Friends, every culture has its prodigals. Max Lucado tells the story of Maria and her young daughter Christina, who leaves her small hometown in Brazil to live in a big city.
However, by taking that step, Christina's sweet disposition was soon to turn sour. Prostitution was the only way she could survive away from home and the tell-tale lines of hard living soon scarred her good looks. She became lonely, angry, depressed, and wanting desperately to return home, but how could she? She would look like a fool if she went home now. So her life just continued in the same sad way each day.
Only days after Christina ran away from home, her mother pieced together what had happened. So for weeks, Maria searched the bars and hotels of the city. On doors and mirrors she left a picture of herself, hoping that Christina would recognize the picture and read the message on the back.
One particularly embittered evening, Christina recognized the picture of her mother that had been placed on a large mirror in the reception room of her hotel. She hastily ran her fingers over the picture's texture, as if she were caressing her mother's familiar cheek. Maria had written a personal message, hundreds of times on the backs of hundreds of photographs, anticipating that Christina would see one of them.
The message was simple, and its words expressed the invitation Christina was ready to hear, "I love you. No matter what you have done, please come home." That's all it took. Love was always there for Christina--waiting only for her to see it and act upon it.
Friend, the Bible story in Luke chapter I5, frequently labelled The Prodigal Son, is the same terse universal drama. A son with everything wastes his life, hits rock bottom, and comes crawling home for help. Jesus takes an event that almost everyone has either experienced for themselves or through someone close to them.
You and I might wonder why the son left. Or why Christina left? Was it Rebellion? Was it Boredom? Were the rules so strict, that he could take it no longer? I believe that how we are driven and why we act as we do become focal points of this universal story.
The boy's father was amazed. He wondered, "Why would my son with all this wealth at his disposal, and more to come, take his smaller portion now? What's he planning, anyway?" The uncertainty of his son's future was enough to worry him. Even more, the separation and anxiety, caused by the loss of his youngest son is excruciating.
Those of us who have children away from home remember the pain of not having that loved one there. The tears, the concerns, the fretting! His fears were justified, for his son wasted his life in a shallow, superficial lifestyle. That's how it is when you buy fun and friends with money. The money runs out, the food is gone, the boy struggles now for survival. Even pigs eat better!
Friend, Luke shows God as the father who reaches out when his wayward son returns. Not a doting father, just a redemptive father. In his eyes, now filled with tears, were the words that never were spoken, "I could have told you so." But the words were swallowed, overshadowed by the incredible joy of recovery, healing, and lessons that would never be forgotten. "My son is back. My son is redeemed." Never again would he be lost (Luke I5:11-32).
This story told by Jesus, is not only a universal plot, but a fundamental theme of the God-man relationship. Jesus said it. And the apostle Paul shaped it for a sceptical audience to whom he spoke in Athens, Greece. Then the letters of the New Testament repeat it. The message is God's outstretched arms, with the invitation, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). -- No more pigs. No more hotels and bars, just peace.
Friend, perhaps, even as you're reading what I've shared with you today, you are struggling to cope with your life. Perhaps you've alienated yourself from your family and friends, and in your loneliness you're wondering how you can turn things around and return to your family and friends.
If this is how you're feeling, then we invite you to write to us for your free booklet called “ATTACKING THE AGONY OF LONELINESS” and “You Can’t Be Human Alone.”
To receive your complimentary copy, just write to Discovering A BETTER LIFE, P.O. Box 1540, Albany Western Australia 6331. If you prefer, you can Telephone us on 98 418 418. Our Email address is: abl-alb@omninet.net.au
“Smiling is contagious;
You can catch it like the flu!
When someone smiled at me today,
I started smiling too; I passed around the corner,
And someone saw my grin. When he smiled I realized
That I had passed it on to him!
I thought about that smile; then I realized its worth.
A single smile, just like mine, could travel round the earth.
So, if you feel a smile begin, don’t leave it undetected,
Let’s start an epidemic quick and get the world infectious!”
Friend, if you would like to read more human interest stories, we invite you to visit our Website Blog at:
To hear and View this ~Video~ Please click on the Link below “The Friend of a Wounded Heart”
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