My daughters spent Thanksgiving week with their dad in another state. While they’re gone, it’s typical that my phone calls go unanswered and usual that I never get to speak with or see my youngest daughter, Kara. So, when we picked them up from the airport Sunday evening, we started the recovery phase of our life cycle: rebuilding and reigniting the flames of love in the hearts of our children.
Kara didn’t talk at all for hours and when it was time for bed, she was unsettled and restless. In the middle of the night, she woke up and came into my room to lead me by the hand to her bed. Over the next few hours, she must have given me a hundred hugs. It broke my heart and filled it all in the same moment. They were full on, wrapped around me, never letting go kind of hugs. I’ve never been embraced like that before and yet I knew exactly what she was communicating with me. Sometimes, I turned to face her and was overwhelmed by the joy in her smile. Other times, I didn’t have the strength to wipe my tears, so I held her even closer in response. As I lay there overtaken by gratitude and unraveled by the magnitude of her non-verbal love, I felt someone else in the bed with us. It was Jesus and He was whispering into my soul the intimate knowledge of these sacred moments between a mother and her child … and that He once gave His own mother the same heartbreaking and heart revealing hug before He endured the cross.
Like Mary, I was tucking away these precious hours in my heart, while also being aware of the mystery of it all. A warmth came into the room as I recalled the Bible verse that details the first miracle of Jesus when He turned water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Mary was so sure of the supernatural ability of her Son, because she had seen it for herself His entire life. She had cultivated a home where impossibility did not exist and the atmosphere of her family was a cocoon of Heaven here on Earth. She raised her children with the innermost care of who God declared they were, and she protected their God-given destinies with all of her heart. As Jesus grew in favor and wisdom and stature with God and man, Mary was right there as each prophecy was unfolding and coming into full life in the fallen world. Before anyone outside of their home had seen a single miracle of Jesus, Mary had already compiled books of them in her heart. Before Jesus touched and healed the multitudes, Mary had held those same hands and felt that healing power inside of a boy the world would not understand. Of the many astonishing records of the life of Jesus Christ we can read and now experience for ourselves, Mary had the very first eyewitness position. And if any mother who has ever lived has felt the pain and pleasure of a hug from their child, it is certainly Mary.
I woke up this morning holding onto a gift, both in the flesh and in the spirit. My heart was held so tenderly that I know last night is sealed somewhere high above me. I believe Jesus came near to remind you and I that He cares deeply about how we are mothering our children. He showed me that His mother knew things about Him that only God could have revealed to her and she defended those holy truths until the triumphant end. He encouraged me that I will continue to see miracles and healings and supernatural answers to prayer inside my home and that what He is doing in my family cannot be harmed by human attacks. I sense there is a rumbling in our children’s bedrooms and an awakening rising within mothers and fathers. And I know Jesus is joining the embraces we share with our children and turning any heartbreak into savored glory!
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