One Little Girl

She was across the table from me at a local restaurant today. I've known her for three years. A beautiful friend, a counterpart I am privileged to live life with. We started law school at the same time, and we developed somewhat of a reputation. Two charismatic young women unafraid to speak of their beliefs in God's ability to save, heal, deliver, and revive. Two young women with a passion for the restoration of the family, who, without trying, always seemed to be followed or surrounded by small children, even those we had never met
Friday we sat in a sandbox and she laughed as four small children surrounded me and sat at my feet. She later said "Children are so perceptive, they know who loves them, and they know where they are safe." We have long known that we are dear enough to each other to know safety, just as those children did, and today, in the bonds of safe friendship, she had a lesson to teach me about the value of one life...of one little girl.

She said "You work so hard, and you give so much, and you must learn to rest, and also, to receive." We talked about how right now in my heart I am experiencing transformation unlike any other ever felt in all of my life. How years of dirty roots, of toxic lies, of wrestling, are being pruned, scrubbed, and laid to rest by the grace of God, through present experiences,  gifts, and new understandings. I explained to her that I believed she was right, generally, I am poor in the area of resting well. For 26 years I've been moving, sometimes literally, and other times in the sense of being busy, and doing something. I confessed later as she pierced my soul with the truth she spoke that my arms seem to be up constantly, in a figurative state of protection. She said "Don't stay in that shell." I explained that by nature she is bold and I tend to be more mild. She told me that now was a season of releasing the captive and being delivered of timidity.  She knows all of those things about me, so none of this was news to either of us, but she continued, and when she made her point, I had nothing else to say.

As she spoke about the very raw feelings I had about certain things going on very close to my heart she said "What if one of the main reasons things worked out the way did is for your sake?" What? She continued "What if God decided to move upon that person's destiny for several reasons, but what if, I mean really, what if one the main reasons that happened was for the sake of ONE LITTLE GIRL who needed to know how much Jesus loves her. God's first form of government is family, and I believe He desires that we see the Father's heart, always, so, I am inclined to believe it's possible that some of this was for your sake, because ONE LITTLE GIRL really means that much to God."
At this point in the conversation I was floored. The details of the situation don't matter, but if you knew them, you'd probably be as humbled and shocked as I am by even the assumption that God would do something that large for the sake of ONE LITTLE GIRL, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I was allowed to be humbled, but that I shouldn't be shocked.
Romans 8:32 says: Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? BOOM!  What of it then? Well, the thing is,  in order to truly grasp the sacrifice of Jesus, we have to realize that it wasn't just a corporate gift. I mean, ultimately, yes, Jesus died that NONE should perish and that ALL should come to repentance, NOTED. However...One sheep was worth leaving the 99 *See Matthew 18:12-13* 

When she stated again that she really could see God orchestrating certain events predominately, or even SOLELY for my sake, I responded by saying I am not that valuable. Her response was unbelievable, but true...She said: The devil is a LIAR. 
She's right.
 No matter where we started, the enemy would have us believe that as individuals we are not cherished enough to be worth a fight. FALSE. Jesus died not to make a statement, or to prove a point, He did it because he loved us. In the scheme of things the world had fallen and cried out desperately for redemption. As He grieved the sound of the crashing world, and cessation of perfect communion with His children over one bite of fruit which should've been unconsumed, but was instead picked, and eaten, as He listened to the gatekeeping angels lift blazing swords at eden's gate, He also understood that redemption would come as the gate was sealed, because communion with Himself would never cease.Even as the serpent laughed maniacally, and the forbidden fruit hit the ground with a resounding thud behind the fire bolted gate, heaven had plans that a decaying *apple?* (or kiwi, or nectarine) could not deter.
Indeed, a Redeemer would be sent to speak life to every shriveled root which decayed as a result of that one bite, and  that redemption, though intended for the whole world, would have been given anyway if the whole world housed only ONE LITTLE GIRL. To accept the Gospel means to believe this as true, so why is it that we (or maybe just I) have a hard time believing that perhaps God would do very large and extreme things for the sake of one person? Perhaps this is why Paul wrote that our bodies are to be presented as living sacrifices...because...well, we are indebted to a living sacrifice ourselves. It's funny to me that we can believe He died for us, that He rose for us, but that we often don't believe He would literally move people, heaven, earth, hearts, etc, in order to reveal Himself to us, but HE WOULD.

To belong to Jesus means that we must understand His sacrifice for us in the life He offered, but also in His undeniable desire to convey His deep love to every one of us in our own way, and to give us the understanding and the assurance that He is a loving Father, and He will do whatever He needs to do to ensure that we understand His heart for us. Indeed, whatever He would do for the world at large, be it the moving of a mountain, the stilling a storm, the giving of His life, whatever He would to for all, He would do for ONE (PRICELESS)  LITTLE GIRL. (Uh, Jesus also loves the little boys, and the big ones, too.)

I Corinthians 6:19-20

<3 Courtney