I must have been 6 or 7 years old the summer I spend with my dad’s Aunt Mary & Uncle Aldo (Doe Doe). They lived in the country outside Carlisle, AR, just down the road from the house my grandpa & dad built. I remember the first morning, before the sun came up, Uncle Doe Doe & I went to the barn to milk the cow. He patiently showed me where & how to sit… how to milk the cow. He made it look so easy, but it was not. I felt like a rock star when the milk hit the bucket. That summer I also learned to gather eggs, churn butter and pick apples. In the afternoons Uncle Doe & Doe and I would go to the pump house where a watermelon had been cooling in the well water for a hot afternoon treat. After a wonderful supper we sat around listening to old radio shows. It was simple & basic. It was just the 3 of us. What I recognize now is that Aunt Mary & Uncle Doe Doe lovingly gave me a treasured memory I could never have imagined.

This memory came to me as I was reading 1 Corinthians 2:9 “However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”—the things God has prepared for those who love Him”. There is so much packed in this verse.

First, Paul is quoting from Isaiah 64:4 that reads, “Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.” This speaks to me that God has intentionally prepared something very special. Something we could never have imagined. Something that will blow us away.

Second, Paul points out “the things God has prepared” are only for those who love Him. In Isaiah it is even more specific, “those who wait for Him.” It’s not for those that know about Him or even talk about Him. It’s for His family…His children. Like that special summer, what I experienced that summer was reserved & planned for family only.

When the world seems to be closing in on you…when things look bad & impossible, ponder this. Jesus gave us this promise in John 14:1-4, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” God’s children have a “room” in God’s House.

No matter who you are or what you have done, YOU can be a child of God. You can be truly free on this Independence Day, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9