Giving God Thanks For The Gift Of My Pen Pal!

Did you have a pen pal as you were growing up? Maybe someone living in a foreign country, in another state or even in your own town!

Back in the day, you know WAY BACK when I was in grade school, pen pals were the "in thing"!

It was super cool to have a pen pal!

You would write to your pen pal and tell him or her all about your life in about three or four short sentences! Then your letter was swept away in what is now known as snail mail!

After sending off your letter, you would check your mail box every day anxiously awaiting to receive a response back!

I had a pen pal when I was much younger, but I couldn't tell you anything about her now. Too much time has passed for me to remember her name, the town, state or even the country in which she lived.

I remember that I met my pen pal through a project in my grade school geography class! The idea behind the class project was two-fold. It allowed us to get to know more about another area of the world or another part of our state, plus we got practice in our handwriting skills!

All that was MANY, MANY years ago.

HOWEVER, I am thrilled to say that I currently have a pen pal!

Yes, you read that sentence correctly!

In this day of technology when everything is done by the latest, greatest and most updated computers, e-mail programs, text messages, cell phones and iPads, I have the ABSOLUTE JOY of communicating back and forth by snail mail with my pen pail, and I love it!

I send my pen pal handmade cards which I make on my computer! Scripture cards! Pictures for her to color! Bible crossword pages, and LOADS OF LOVE!

In return, I have received handwritten letters which are written in the most beautiful cursive hand writing! A handmade bookmark! A beautifully colored picture of a horse, and LOADS OF LOVE!

I met my pen pal several years ago, however, we did not begin corresponding until September of this year.

My pen pal has stolen a piece of my heart!

But that stolen piece of my heart was taken WAY before she became my pen pal!

In fact, the day when she stole that piece of my heart was nine years ago TODAY! November 15, 2008!  

I'm sure by now you have figured out that my pen pal is none other than my granddaughter, Emma!

We became Grammy and granddaughter, TODAY, nine years ago!

We became pen pals sometime in the middle of September of this year!

It's been amazing!

It all began one day as I was spending some quiet time with the Lord. I was praying for others and taking note of who the Lord wanted me to send cards to. As I was praying, the Holy Spirit of God impressed upon me that I should begin sending "just because cards" to Emma.

That evening as I was working on Emma's card, my phone rang and it was Tamara (Emma's Mama!). We chatted for a bit and then I told her what I was doing and why!

Okay, you better hold onto your hat as you hear what Tamara told me!

She said, "Mom, you're not going to believe this, but just today when we got home, Emma asked why she never gets any mail!"

I'm not kidding!

I can't

make up

stuff like that!

NO COINCIDENCE!

I just sat there in a daze for a few minutes with the phone in my hand until I could finally say something like,"Wow! Are you kidding me? Praise God!"

That's our God!

I talked to Emma that same evening and explained to her that I was going to send her a card along with a self-addressed stamped envelope so that way she could write back to me, and we could become pen pals!

To say she was excited is an understatement!

And write back she did!

This was her first letter, along with a bookmark she made for me!

Since then I've gotten three other letters from her!

The last letter brought tears to my eyes. Happy tears!

"A merry heart doeth good like a medicine."
Proverbs 17:22

Why the happy tears?

Because she was writing about doing well in school and getting good grades, when all of a sudden she stopped and wrote,

"But though this letter is not about me it is about you. So I wrote a Bible verse of my own for you, Proverbs Chapter 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

HEART MELT!

I give thanks to the Lord for the opportunity to pass along to Emma my love for communicating to others through written words, cards and yes, good old fashioned snail mail!

My prayer is that Emma and I will be pen pals for years to come!

Moms and Dad, and yes, sometimes even Grandmas and Grandpas, you have the tremendous, hard, marvelous, immense JOY of raising your children or grandchildren.

However, we as grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, neighbors and friends, also have an incredible influence on the children in our lives, and we need to make sure we are being a positive role model to them.

Showing and displaying the love of Christ to each and every one of them. There are so many different ways and possibilities in which to be a godly example to the children which God has placed in our lives.

Pray and ask the Lord how you can be used to share the love of the Saviour with the children in your very own life. It may be as simple as becoming their pan pal!  

"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
Deuteronomy 6:6-7

I have the sheer delight of sharing with you the latest video of Emma doing something else which she enjoys. Singing!

I pray it's a blessing to you!

"Let the waters rise

I will stand

as the oceans roar

Let the earth

shake beneath me

Let the mountains fall

You are God

over the storm

and I am Yours"

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May God Bless You,

Barb