The Father Loves Us!

Reading Time: 7 Minutes

One of the many blessings of growing up on the mission field was the friendships with the other missionary families. Missionaries, regardless of evangelical denomination, are family. MK’s (missionary kids) always called the other missionary parents aunts and uncles. Some of my favorite childhood memories took place in Paraguay with missionary families. The following true story helped me understand by experience that the Father loves us!

If readers were present in these events and details are incorrect, please forgive me. This story happened over 50 years ago, but I will do my best to tell it from my child’s-eye point of view.

Girl Scouts

Aunt Gladys pulled together a Junior Girl Scout troop for a group of us girls. She was loads of fun and full of creativity! Earning the music badge was one of my favorite challenges. I learned to play and sing my first song on the ukulele, How Great Thou Art. During that time, Aunt Gladys taught us the song, Look For The Silver Lining by Jerome Kern and B.G. DeSylva:

Look for the silver lining
Whenever a cloud appears in the blue
Remember, somewhere the sun is shining
And so the right thing to do is make it shine for you

A heart, full of joy and gladness
Will always banish sadness and strife
So always look for the silver lining
And try to find the sunny side of life

The Camping Badge

But this story is really about the camping badge! Aunt Gladys and Uncle Wilbur sponsored an overnight camping event for us so we could earn our badge. All the parents chipped in with food and camping gear so we were prepared for the wilderness. My mom’s main contribution was a large blue water cooler. It had just about enough water for all the kids and a few adults who joined in to help. Aunt Gladys and Uncle Wilbur also brought a small red water cooler, but I was especially proud of our big blue one.

The Adventure Begins!

One hot morning, after loading up the cars, we climbed in and set out on our adventure. Of course, no camping trip is complete without singing silly songs to the top of our lungs! Crammed tightly in the car, we began the journey by singing 100 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall. However, we were quickly made to change it to 100 Bottles of Coke on the Wall! I imagine we also sang Found A Peanut, Have You Ever Seen A Cow With A Green Eyebrow, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and Do Lord.

Nature’s Paradise

After being on the paved road for several hours we turned off onto a dirt, car trail. Within a few minutes, our drivers pulled to a stop and we kids crawled out of the cars. We had arrived! With glee we began to scan the site. There was no campground, not even a gas station nearby that we could drive to just in case we needed supplies. We were hours away from the capital city, Asuncion, where we lived, but we were delighted! Our scout leaders had picked the perfect spot!

Within the immediate area there was a small clearing which was surrounded by dense jungle. Straight ahead was a stream flowing beside the edge of a mountain. To us MK’s, we were in paradise! We wanted to get into our bathing suits right away! But like good campers, we had to take care of first things first. Uncle Wilbur called us together for instructions. We were going to help unload and set up our tents and then we could swim while the adults got supper ready.

Unloading The Car

I ran over to the back of Aunt Gladys and Uncle Wilbur’s white VW Squareback Station Wagon and reached out to unload our cooler. Uncle Wilbur kindly offered to unload it since it was so heavy. But I insisted on doing it myself. I proudly grabbed it by the lid handle instead of the carrying handle. The top came off and the big blue water cooler fell sideways. I stood there in shock as our drinking water soaked into the dry ground!

Holding the big round lid in my hand I suddenly remembered my family discussing “how NOT to pick up this cooler.” Shame overwhelmed me! Why didn’t I just let Uncle Wilbur unload it like he had offered to? I looked up as everyone turned to see what had just happened. They appeared stunned– with nothing to say. Uncle Wilbur quickly broke the awkward gasps and said, “It’s OK. Don’t worry! Let’s, finish unloading.” He smiled in such a kind way and trustingly handed me something to unload.

Ask God

Uncle Wilbur then called us together again, this time in a big circle. He reminded us that they had some water in the little red cooler if anyone was thirsty. We were not to not drink from the stream because it might be contaminated. Being a missionary doctor, he knew the many possible dangers. But he kept the scientific explanation on our level with that kind smile he always wore.

Uncle Wilbur explained that people may have bathed upstream and animals may have pooped in it. We said disgustingly, “Eweooo!” But what happened next made a huge impression on me. He explained how the Father loves us and He knows exactly what we need. Uncle Wilbur said that if we pray and believe, our Heavenly Father will show us some clean water we can drink. Then we held hands in a big circle as he led a prayer asking God to provide.

No Ordinary Stream!

We were sent off to suit up for swimming and enjoy the shallow stream, thickly shaded by tropical trees and plants. Situated in the midst of humble and ordinary surroundings we found that this was no ordinary stream! To our delight, there was a natural, built-in, slippery slide! It sloped downward to our right with three or four bumps in it. There was a little natural pool to catch us at the bottom! We played for what seemed like hours, focused on nothing but the little personal water park our Heavenly Father had created for us. Up we climbed and down we slid, over and over again!

A Bible Story Replayed

Uncle Wilbur later called us over and said, “Do y’all remember when we prayed for clean water? Well, the Lord answered our prayer.” Then he pointed over to a place on the other side of the stream where the wet rocky wall of the mountain was. He instructed us to pull the ferns and other tropical plants aside that were growing out of the rock. So we did.

There was a perfect single stream of water spewing out of the rock like a water fountain! It was right beside the little pool we had been playing in. He explained that this water was even cleaner and better for us than our chlorinated city water back home. We could put our mouths right under it and drink whenever we wanted to. To us, it was just like the story of Moses and the children of Israel in the desert! We all took turns getting a drink from the water from the rock that the Lord had provided.

Relief For Body And Soul

The water was good and relieved our bodies. But oh the relief I felt in my heart when Jesus came through for me that day! He took away my shame! I am so thankful for Aunt Gladys and Uncle Wilbur. They helped me see the Son shining brightly behind the silver lining of my dark cloud. Even in my pride, they loved me with so much patience, grace and faith through the power of the Holy Spirit. They forgave me without calling attention to my pride. This was truly the Heavenly Father’s love expressed through them.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a NIV

All of us Girl Scouts got our camping badges and a load of great memories. But I came home with a bonus; a greater understanding of the love and kindness of our Heavenly Father!

God loves you so much and invites you to experience His grace through His Son Jesus Christ. To learn more, follow this link: Meet Jesus