I Found the Father's Love In a Little Wooden Box

The family room lamp softly glowed across the page of my Bible as I tried to see the words through smudged glasses and tears that were determined like roaring ocean waves. With every tightly held blink, I tried to stop them so I could read in the Psalms, but the tears were releasing their own prayer, a prayer welling up from my heart. The Bible tells us that the heart is the wellspring of life, and this past Tuesday morning that bountiful source of emotion was dripping onto the pages of Psalm 91.There was no point in trying to read because in that moment the Living Word was reading me.

It was while sitting on a soft brown sofa wrapped up in a handmade tapestry blanket, surrounded by the stilled silence that 4:30am brings, that I released to God what He created to assist in voicing pain – unconstrained tears.

I didn’t say a word. And for that hour, it was the most sacred silence. Nothing happened. Nothing said. Just tears. But while the soft glow of light filled my little corner of the room, the radiance of Christ’s presence filled my heart.

Yes, in that moment, my Wonderful Counselor was hearing every tear. And I knew it.

5:30 came quickly and it was time to get up and get goin’ into the new day.  After breakfast and kissing Rip bye, I drove to my office and was ready to get to work. The time flew and before I knew it, 11:45 showed on my office clock – time to go home for lunch. As my car approached our driveway, I glanced over at the mailbox. It’s not my habit to get the mail during my lunch break with Rip, but this time I parked the car, ran across the road, opened the mailbox and saw…

A package with my name on it. So unexpected….and so exciting!

After bolting up the garage stairs and flinging open our back door, I opened the package while Rip warmed up our soup. As I tore off the brown paper and cut through layers of duck tape, I couldn’t help but wonder what could be in such a teeny-tiny package. It was no larger than a full deck of UNO cards.

As I gently lifted yellow tissue paper out of the package, I found a little wooden box. The box had the cutest decal on top of a opened window with shutters. Immediately I said to Rip, “Oh, look! It’s a little keepsake box! How darlin’!”

But then I opened it.

And I could not believe what I saw.

My name.

My name was typed out on a small white card. I had to go back to the mailing label to see who sent this to me, and it was my dear friend, Libby Williams. And when I saw who it was from, I was FILLED with expectation. This woman walks with God and if she sent me a package, it wasn’t REALLY from her. She was simply being His servant. So that meant, what I’d find in that little wooden box was from Him. My Father.

I removed the card with my name on it only to find an entire box of Scripture cards that had been typed out and personalized with my name inserted into each promise…added into each verse.

I lost it! Tears flooded my face all over again because as I sat there reading each verse out loud, this time my Wonderful Counselor was speaking right to my soul. Verse after verse, my name was inserted to His promise. I may have been doing the reading, but the Word of God was doing all the speaking. And when the Word speaks things happen.

What happened as I read verse after verse? Promise after promise?

I felt ….

Deeply cared for. Fully understood. Intimately attended to. Relentlessly comforted. And unconditionally loved.

I felt His peace covering it all just like I had read in Psalm 91 early this morning – “He will cover you with His feathers; you will take refuge under His wings.” Psalm 91:4

Yes, in that moment, my Wonderful Counselor was counseling. And I knew it.

Sweet Libby took the time to work very hard at giving me a personalized box of God’s promises. But what meant so much as I sat there simply in awe of it all was how God works through people who are willing to be used by Him. And because my friend was willing,

I found the Father’s love in a little wooden box.