Brooke Nally (IDES International Aid Assistant) and Emerson Nally
Back in March of this year, I had my first baby - a sweet baby girl named Emerson. Emerson, or Emmie, as we typically call her, has been such a blessing to my husband Caleb and I. We are grateful to be her parents.
Parenthood teaches you many things as you learn to care for this new little life you’ve been given. I believe the most important thing I’ve learned over the past seven months is a greater understanding of God’s love for his children. I often (wrongly) believe that God’s love for me is based on what I can do, or how I act, or even on how well I love Him. I’ve learned that a parent’s love isn’t conditional. I love Emmie because she is Emmie and because she is my daughter, not for anything she has or has not done.
I know how much I (a sinful and very imperfect human) love my daughter, so I can only imagine how much God (who in His very definition is love) loves ALL of his children. I can only imagine God’s delight when His children turn to him in joy, and I can only imagine the heartbreak that God feels when His children suffer.
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us,
that we should be called children of God!”
(1 John 3:1)
My main job at IDES is processing the requests we get to help with various needs around the world. It’s an unfortunate reality that many of these requests are seeking to help people in times of deep suffering. I read accounts of unimaginable pain - the deaths of family members, the loss of homes, the ravages of war, the devastation of famines. It’s hard to understand why these things happen and I don’t claim to have the answers.
However, I do know two things. First, I know these events break the heart of God our Father. Secondly, I know that God has not abandoned the people affected and can somehow turn the worst of situations to good. I read report after report of people that have come to know Christ as their Savior as a result of a disaster. Time and time again, disaster opens the door for Christians to show the love of Christ to their neighbors in need. IDES steps in and provides physical help, and our local church partners all over the world provide hope in Christ by sharing of God's great love for them.
While it’s easy to get caught up in the hardships of the world, my work at IDES gives me a front row seat to the powerful love of God. He uses Christians in America to reach lepers in India, refugees in Pakistan, the sick in El Salvador, the hungry in Kenya, and so many more. He provides exactly what is needed at exactly the right time in pursuit of His beloved children. As a new mom in my specific role at IDES, I learn a little bit more everyday about God’s love for us. And I pray that you, as Paul writes in his letter to the church in Ephesus: “may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:18-19)
~Brooke Nally (International Aid Assistant)
…One more Emmie picture just for good measure. :)