Pacing for Our Loved Ones

Dear Readers,

I have always had trouble understanding persons when they state that a loved one “will never change”, or “they will never give their heart to the Lord”. I guess I have always been an eternal optimist. Just ask my wife about my opinion of the Cleveland Indians. They ought to call them the Cleveland Rebuilders because it seems they are always in rebuilding mode. But I love the new young talent and dream of a time they will finally get to the promised land of a World Series and win the championship.

I am the same way with my loved ones when it comes to salvation. Some of them have not given their hearts to the Lord, but I am anxiously anticipating that day when they do. I cannot let it rest. The consequences are too serious. I know that my heart will almost leap out of my chest when it finally happens.

I am a pacer, so when I am excited about something I pace. I pace when I finish a project that I am proud of. I pace back and forth and look at it over and over again to admire my accomplishment. Some persons might call it pride, but somehow I think that God is smiling because he knows my habits better than I know them myself.

I can really identify with Mordecai in the book of Esther. Mordecai was Esther’s cousin, but he raised her because her parents died somewhere during the exile to Babylon. King Xerxes had banished Vashti the queen when she had not come at his beckoning. So Esther was one of the potential queens taken into the palace to replace Vashti.

Mordecai was so concerned about his loved one that in Esther 2:11 that it stated the following: “And every day Mordecai paced in front of the court of the women’s quarters, to learn of Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her.”

Perhaps pacing for our loved ones and praying for them and learning of their welfare will be the key in changing their lives like Mordecai praying for and learning of the welfare of Esther that changed her life and the lives of all the Jews in Babylon.

See you next time,
Arlen