How Much God Loves You!

SOMETIMES, AS AN AUTHOR, it amazes me to see just how much God loves you, my reader, and how far He’ll go to demonstrate that love for you as your broken heart cries out to Him and hangs on the precipice of hopelessness. There have been times, in fact, when He has gone to great lengths to show me just how much He loves each of you individually.

A Question from Africa

One of the most dramatic evidences of this happened a while back when I received an email from a woman in Africa who was separated from her husband and expressed the need for a friend in Christ. She found me on the web. Wanting to read Broken Heart on Hold, she asked how she could buy it there in South Africa.

I emailed my publisher, asking if they knew where my book could be found in that remote part of the world, but they were unable to find an answer for me.

A couple of weeks later, I experienced problems with my Amazon account, where people often buy Broken Heart on Hold, and I was forced to contact customer service to resolve it.  Technological problems typically drive me a little bit crazy so I wasn’t exactly a happy camper having to spend a lot of time on this. The woman I reached for the tech help was very polite and helpful but couldn’t immediately find the answer to the problem either, so as we waited and she tried different options, we began to chat.  She checked out my Amazon page and saw the title of my book, then asked me more about it.  As we talked and she made some positive observations about the title and subject and the enormous need for it, I began to realize that this woman was a Christian.  I asked her where she lived, and when she answered, I got goose bumps.

“South Africa,” she said.

South Africa!

 Immediately, the Holy Spirit connected the dots in my mind. The country from which I’d received the email where the woman was trying to find my book.  I couldn’t remember ever talking to someone from South Africa on the phone before. But now! Today! Two weeks after receiving that email . . . .

Was this God?

Connecting Across the World

While my customer service rep, who lived in South Africa, continued to check out various options and reach out to other tech operators for support, we continued to wait together on the phone. Since I had now confirmed that this woman was a Christian who was sympathetic to the needs of my readers, I told her about the woman who’d emailed me.

“Since you’re obviously proficient with computers, would you know how to look for Broken Heart on Hold to see if it’s available some place in South Africa?” I asked.

Immediately, she began doing a search on her end and in a few minutes produced the name of an online bookstore in South Africa that carried Broken Heart on Hold.

I was astounded—amazed. God had used my technological problems to answer a heartfelt need from one of my readers. Who would have thought my annoying techie issues would result in an answer to someone’s prayer?

How Much God Loves You

And that’s when I realized just exactly how much God loves YOU! You’re not just another person whose marriage is in trouble. You’re not just another woman in despair. You’re not just another man who has lost his way. You are uniquely His and you are uniquely loved in a very special way.

“In Ephesians, Paul yearned for God’s people to understand the depth of God’s love when he prayed, “I ask [the Father] that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:19 – The Message)

Each of you travel your own individual journeys during these difficult times in your lives. Your needs are personal. You don’t fit a generic mold.  But God loves each of you in a completely individual way and comes to you on a specific time table, a specific path, and uses a specific approach to show you His love and His glory. He does not forsake you. God loves you. And He uses the entire resources of the universe to meet your needs in whatever way He deems appropriate for you personally.

 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”  (Matthew 6: 26-27)

“I have loved you with an everlasting love.” Jeremiah 31:3

Oh, God, how good you are! How infinitely creative, powerful and clever to tap into my frustration with techie stuff, connect me across the world, and navigate the world’s resources to put me in touch with a Christian in South Africa who could find this book for a woman in desperate need. Lord, thank you for your amazing love!

 

If you are looking for hope and haven’t yet read Broken Heart on Hold, you can find it on Amazon. Or if you’re trying now to put all the pieces together in practical ways to find answers for restoration, you might want to check out my second book, Fighting for Your Marriage while Separated.