Jesus Loves Me

We all know that children's song Jesus Loves Me. That song has taken on added meaning to Brenda and I in recent days. Let me tell you why.

While serving in Seminole I received a phone call about one of members being put in the hospital. On a Saturday morning Brenda and I drove to Lubbock to make a hospital visit like we had done hundreds of times before. Only this time we were going to visit a little girl and her family. The diagnosis was not good. She had an inoperable brain tumor.

While talking to the mom and dad in a different room Brenda and I heard that little girl singing, "Jesus Loves Me" from her bed. It moved all of us to tears as she did not know the diagnosis and the seriousness of her condition. Her happy and carefree spirit that day lingers in my mind even as I write this.

About a week later her family came back to church. Word had spread and we all knew the desperate condition. We gathered to pray at the end of the service. That little girl asked for a microphone after the prayer time and once again sang Jesus Loves Me before the whole church. People wept openly.

This began a long road of treatment and prayer for the girl's healing and recovery. Over the course of the last year and a half the family endured multiple trips to Houston for treatment and the agony of watching their little girl's health slowly ebb away. Thousands of people prayed for healing. Many had the faith to move the mountain.

That little girl's world slowly closed in as she lost her ability to walk, to talk, and eventually to eat or drink. Yet her faith in Jesus never waned. In fact on one sorrowful day she comforted her family letting them know she was not alone but Jesus was with her.

Saturday morning I received a phone call God had finally set her free but not in the way any of us wanted. The Jesus she had sung to called her home. My heart ached within me. I called the dad and had some prayer with him. I cannot understand. In the end I don't have to understand. I have to keep trusting.

We had to drive to Fort Worth later that day to get Taylor some new football cleats. He blew his others out in his football scrimmage on Friday night. While driving back home we got caught in the middle of a huge thunderstorm. At times I could only drive forty-five miles per hour. As we drove I sang along to songs on the cd. And then several songs came up that made me think of that vibrant little girl and her family. As the rain descended it mirrored the tears in my heart for this family. It reminded me of anther tragic day back in July of 2010 when a beloved wife, mother, and friend got called home to Jesus unexpectedly. It rained all that night and the rain once again mirrored the tears in my heart.

Three songs in a row played that ministered comfort. Bless the Lord O My Soul, Endless Hallelujah, and  I Can Only Imagine. I sang in worship thinking of that little girl singing to Jesus and putting to sight what I can only see by faith. The last verse of Bless the Lord O My Soul goes like this:

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore

I thought of about that little girl singing Jesus Loves Me not to her parents or to a church but to the Lord Jesus Himself. It comforted my heart and yet I still grieved. She has ten thousands years plus forevermore to keep singing the praises of Jesus. 

When the song I Can Only Imagine played I fought back the years. I noticed Brenda sobbing in the passenger seat. We both thought of that little girl dancing and singing in the presence of Jesus. 

That children's song Jesus Loves Me will never be the same for me. I will always think back to that Saturday morning in Lubbock at the hospital and that Sunday morning when she sang that song for the church. 

I wonder if I will face my last days as bravely as she did. Will I still be singing God's praises when I stare death in the face? If my body is wracked with pain will I keep singing praises unending? I should. She did and continues to. We all should follow her example. 

Jesus loves me this I know,
For the Bible tells me so, 
Little ones to Him belong, 
They are weak but He is strong, 
Yes, Jesus loves me, 
Yes, Jesus loves me,
Yes, Jesus loves me, 
The Bible tells me so.