Guest Post: When We’ve Lost Our Way by Gina Stinson
It is my privilege to welcome my friend Gina Stinson to join us today. She has a very timely message for us. Please give her a warm welcome. Leagh
When We’ve Lost Our Way by Gina Stinson
Sometimes we don’t know we need help. Sometimes we are lost and we aren’t even aware we’ve lost our way. Sometimes we find ourselves in scary situations and we don’t even know how we got there.
I was three years old the first time this happened. My family lived in a large apartment complex in Rochester, New York. My younger brother was just a baby and my mother certainly had her hands full with the two of us. She stayed at home, day in and day out, while my father worked as a traveling salesman.
Somehow, one day I escaped from the indoor safety our apartment afforded me. I’m sure in my three-year-old mind I was just going on an adventure, but even back in the 1970’s a large apartment complex was no place for a three-year-old to go exploring by herself. It didn’t take long for my mother to realize I was missing. Frantic to find me, she asked a neighbor to watch my brother. She could not get out the door fast enough.
From house to house she knocked on each door. Panicked to find me. Urgent disappointment swelled in her heart each time the neighbor would shake their head, “no.”
Finally, after what seemed like hours she glanced toward the complex playground and saw what she thought was my silhouette—a girl playing on the slide. Her small, 5’3” frame bolted toward the jungle gym, each stride faster than the one before. Yes, it was me. Thank God, she had found me.
I had no idea I was lost. I barely knew I had done anything wrong. I had no inkling of boundaries or danger. I was an innocent and secure toddler girl with no idea of the predicament I had put myself in.
Friend, the same is true for us sometimes. I need rescuing more times than I want to admit from dangerous situations I have gotten myself into. No, I don’t get lost in apartment complexes, but I do get lost in this world we live in. It’s easy to think everyone is good and kind and loving, but it doesn’t take too many entanglements with the wrong people to know that evil is lurking around ready to kill, steal and destroy the good things God is doing in my life.
Do you feel discouraged by the place you’re in right now? There is hope. God is the ultimate rescue hero. He invites you to a relationship of care, security and protection. In a world of hardships, that is the good news of the gospel.
If you’re feeling lost, abandoned, frightened by your place in this world, I invite you to run to our rescuer and reclaim your place with him.
When my mom found me, I didn’t have to wonder how she felt. Her tight hug and quiet tears let me know I had been missed. What a sweet assurance that God welcomes us back with that same enthusiasm.
In the story of the prodigal song, Luke 15:20 says, “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
God is interested in the prodigals, the lost and the confused. He’s interested in you too!
Bio: After years of living in fear and defeat, Gina Stinson is busy reclaiming every day for God’s glory. She is a pastor’s wife of 26 years and homeschool mom of two teenagers. Between family and ministry, she enjoys dabbling in gardening, crocheting and playing music on her second hand, baby grand piano. She writes true stories of God’s reclaiming power and is a storyteller for those who have overcome their circumstances and embraced God’s goodness. Her first collection of storytelling devotions, Reclaimed, The Stories of Rescued Moments and Days, is available now in Amazon.
You can find her at:
Her Website: www.ginastinson.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/reclaimingeveryday/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ginastinson72
Instagram: www.instagram.com/reclaimingeveryday/
Enjoy this free download: RECLAIMED FREEBIE
