Reason #3,091, 423 why The Waterbrook Church will always be a church after my own heart. Here’s an email I received this morning. I’m so far away from my old church family but I still feel their love all the way from here.

Memorandum from God

To: You
From: God

Take counsel. I hear your cry.

It passes through the darkness, filters through the clouds, mingles with starlight, and finds its way to my heart.

I have anguished over the cry of a rabbit caught in a trap, a sparrow tumbled from the nest of its mother, a child thrashing helplessly in a pond, and a son shedding his blood on a cross.

Know that I hear you, also. Be at peace. Be calm.

I bring you relief for your sorrow for I know its cause … and its cure.

You weep for all your childhood dreams that have vanished with the years.
You weep for all your self-esteem that has been corrupted by failure.
You weep for all your potential that has been bartered for security.
You weep for all your talent that has been wasted through misuse.

You look upon yourself with disgrace and you turn in terror from the image you see in the pool. Who is this mockery of humanity staring back at you with bloodless eyes of shame?

Where is the grace of your manner, the beauty of your figure, the quickness of your movement, the clarity of your mind, the brilliance of your tongue? Who stole your goods? Is the thief’s identity known to you, as it is to me?

Do you remember who implanted plans and dreams and seeds of hope within you?
You cannot.

Remember our secret?
You cannot.

The passing years have destroyed your recollection, for they have filled your mind with fear and doubt and anxiety and remorse and hate and there is no room for joyful memories where these beasts habitate.

Weep no more. I am with you. Feel my hand upon thy head. Attend to my wisdom.

Let me share with you, again, the secret you heard at your birth and forgot.

You are my greatest miracle.

You are the greatest miracle in the world.

Those were the first words you ever heard.

You did not believe me then … and nothing has happened in the intervening years to correct your disbelief.

For how could you be a miracle when you consider yourself a failure at the most menial of tasks? How can you be a miracle when you have little confidence in dealing with the most trivial of responsibilities? How can you be a miracle when you are shackled by debt and lie awake in torment over where tomorrow’s bread will come from?

Then you cried and beat your breast and cursed the luck that had befallen you. You refused to accept the consequences of your own petty thoughts and lazy deeds and you searched for a scapegoat on which to blame your failure. How quickly you found one.

You blamed me!

You cried that your handicaps, your mediocrity, your lack of opportunity, your failures … were the will of God!

You were wrong!

Let us take inventory. Let us, first, call a roll of your handicaps.

Are you blind? Does the sun rise and fall without your witness? No. You can see. Count one blessing.

Are you deaf? Can a baby laugh or cry without your attention? No. You can hear. Count another blessing.

Are you mute? Do your lips move and bring forth only spittle? No. You can speak and say I love you. Count another blessing.

Are you paralyzed? No. You can move. You can stretch and run and dance and work. Count another blessing.

Are you unloved and unloving? Does loneliness engulf you, night and day? No. No more. For now you know love’s secret, that to receive love it must be given with no thought of its return. Count another blessing. Count twice.

Is your heart stricken? Does it leak and strain to maintain your life? No. Your heart is strong. Touch your chest and feel its rhythm, pulsating. Man has never created such a machine. Count another blessing.

Are you diseased of skin? Do people turn in horror when you approach? No. Your skin is clear and a marvel of creation, needing only that you tend it with soap and oil and brush and care. Count another blessing.

Are your lungs diseased? Does your breath of life struggle to enter your body? No. Your portholes to life support you even in the vilest of environments of your own making. Count another blessing.

Are you feeble of mind? Can you no longer think for yourself? No. Your brain is the most complex structure in the universe. You are my finest creation.

Within you is enough atomic energy to destroy any of the world’s great cities … and rebuild it.
Are you poor? Is there no gold or silver in your purse?
No. You are rich! Together we have just counted your wealth.

Why have you betrayed yourself? Why did you deceive yourself that you were powerless to change your life? Are you without talent, senses, abilities, pleasures, instincts, sensations, and pride?

You have so much. Your blessings overflow your cup … and you have been unmindful of them, like a child spoiled in luxury, since I have bestowed them upon you with generosity and regularity.

Answer me. Answer yourself.

You had condemned yourself to a potter’s field, and there you lay, unable to forgive your own failure, destroying yourself with self-hate, self-incrimination, and revulsion at your crimes against yourself and others.

Are you not perplexed? Do you not wonder why I am able to forgive your failures, your transgressions, your pitiful demeanor … when you cannot forgive yourself?

I address you now, for three reasons. You need me. You are not one of a herd heading for destruction in a gray mass of mediocrity. And … you are a great rarity.

Never, in all the seventy billion humans who have walked this planet since the beginning of time has there been anyone exactly like you.

Never, until the end of time, will there be another such as you.

Why have you valued yourself in pennies when you are worth a king’s ransom?

Why did you listen to those who demeaned you … and far worse, why did you believe them?

Proclaim your rarity.

You have no handicaps. You are not mediocre.

Be proud. You were made with a purpose.

You are a marvel to behold and I was pleased. I gave you this world and dominion over it. Then, to enable you to reach your full potential I placed my hand upon you, once more, and endowed you with powers unknown to any other creature in the universe, even unto this day.

I gave you the power to think. I gave you the power to love. I gave you the power to will, to laugh, to imagine, to create, to plan, to speak, to pray, to heal.

My pride in you knew no bounds. You were my ultimate creation, my greatest miracle. A complete living being. One who can adjust to any climate, any hardship, any challenge. One who can manage his own destiny without any interference from me.

For I gave you one more power, a power so great that not even my angels possess it. I gave you … the power to choose.

I told you to determine, for yourself, your own nature in accordance with your own free will. I have never withdrawn your great power, the power to choose.

What have you done with this tremendous force? Look at yourself. Think of the choices you have made in your life

Rather than hate … Choose to love
Rather than cry … Choose to laugh
Rather than destroy… Choose to create
Rather than quit … Choose to persevere
Rather than gossip … Choose to praise
Rather than wound … Choose to heal
Rather than steal … Choose to give
Rather than procrastinate … Choose to act
Rather than rot … Choose to grow
Rather than curse … Choose to pray
Rather than die … Choose to live

You are more than a human being, you are a human becoming.

You are capable of great wonders. Your potential is unlimited. Who else, among my creatures, has mastered fire? Who else, among my creatures, has conquered gravity, has pierced the heavens, has conquered disease and pestilence and drought?

Never demean yourself again!

Never settle for the crumbs of life!

Enjoy this day, today … and tomorrow, tomorrow.

You have performed the greatest miracle in the world.

You have returned from a living death.

You have been born again … but just as before, you can choose failure and despair or success and happiness. The choice is yours. The choice is exclusively yours. I can only watch, as before … in pride … or sorrow.

Wipe away your tears. Reach out, grasp my hand, and stand straight.

This day you have been notified.

YOU ARE THE GREATEST MIRACLE IN THE WORLD