No Longer Orphans
Scripture Reading — John 14:15-21
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
John 14:18
When I was in China, one of our radio listeners, Hope, introduced me to Ai Mei. Ai Mei was born with a brittle bone disease, osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), a disorder characterized by bones that break easily. Though she was already 16, Ai Mei looked like she was still a little girl and was confined to a wheelchair.
Today Ai Mei is doing much better, and she has come a long way.
When Ai Mei was five years old, her parents brought her to a cornfield and deserted her. Miraculously she was found and brought to an orphanage. She was adopted a few years later but was abandoned again by her adoptive parents. Ai Mei finally ended up in the Christian foster home operated by Hope. Hope said that Ai Mei was so afraid to be deserted again that it took almost an entire year before she began to speak. On the day I met Ai Mei, she held the hand of Hope and said with a large smile, “Jesus gave Hope to me.”
Politicians may not keep their words, friends and family may desert us, and some spouses may cheat on one another. But if we believe in Jesus, we are children of a trustworthy Father. “Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons … nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
Father God, we thank you for adopting us into your family. Help us to remember that you are always trustworthy and that you are always near. In Jesus' name, Amen.
About the author — Jimmy Tai-On Lin
Rev. Jimmy Lin is the Chinese ministry leader of The Back to God Hour. With his staff in Palos Heights and Hong Kong, Rev. Lin has ministered to over 1.3 billion Chinese-speaking people around the world for 16 years through radio, literature, CD/DVD, Internet, and text message. His wife, Doris, is one of the translators of Today into the Chinese language, which now has a circulation of more than 45,000 copies.
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