Ace Browne

Zephaniah 3:17 (NIV) The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Life has been very stressful this last couple weeks, so Sunday when I left the house to go to church is where this message begins.  I knew I needed to go back to the Father and I knew I needed to be in the loving arms of my God. Our lives have been so hectic this past couple weeks, that we have not been to see our church family in almost a month. I could not wait to get back to our little church for a small diversion and I know our church and how loving everyone would be. I knew that I could escape my stressful life for a little while.

Proverbs 8: 17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.

Now I have to digress a bit here as well, to share with you another situation that our family is going through. You see a few years ago our daughter lost a son late in her pregnancy. His name is Ace. About a year or so ago, our daughter was contacted by an author to see if she would be willing to write a short story or chapter in a book  to share her story. That book is set to release this week and those emotions have risen to the surface again, hence more stress for our family.

Our daughter and her family planted a tree right in their yard to keep Ace’s memory alive and a friend of hers bought her a set of wind chimes to honor Ace. Those wind chimes hang in that tree. My wife has a set of those same wind chimes that we hang out by our pool. Every time I hear those chimes I am reminded of Ace. I can be at their house standing outside and not a breath of wind and those chimes will tinkle. I always think that is Ace saying hello to his Pots and wanting to play. When I hear those chimes ring at our house, especially when we are swimming and having fun, it’s Ace joining in. I honestly choke up with emotion.

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

Now back to our little church. I have to tell you that we are blessed to have a worship band with amazing talent. So here we are worshipping and singing Matt Redman’s I Need You Now. I was so overwhelmed, that I stopped singing and closed my eyes. I let the words wash over me.

You will call and I will come

To Your river I will run

I bow down

I need You now

Oh, living water. Oh, God, my Savior,

If I ever needed You, I need You now

Oh, living water, Oh, God, my Healer,

If I ever needed You, I need You now

I just swayed to the music and started praying. I asked God just to take my situation and tell me how to handle it all. What I felt was nothing short of amazing. I literally felt God holding me like I was up against His leg with my back to Him and His arms around me holding me close to Him. I was warm, I felt worry free, and I felt content. I also felt His love enveloping the sanctuary and holding others in there that needed His warm hugs as well.

That’s when I started thinking about Ace. Although he is not with us, I felt this is how I would hold him. Because I hold all my grandbabies close and warm them with my hugs. We hold Ace in our hearts and long for him to be a part of us.

Psalm 136:23 He remembered us in our low estate - His love endures forever.

This is when God does His amazing work. When we are in our lowest state, He calls us, He wants to hold us, He wants to fix everything that is wrong for us. Because He loves us even more.

If you are feeling down, feeling stressed, feeling hopeless, needing help, or just need a hug, draw closer to God, this is when He wants you even more. He can fix everything and hold you at the same time. Now I know I cannot see God or Ace, but I am here to tell you, I can see their effects on my world.

Now that I think about this experience, I know the Lord was holding me, but I am almost sure Ace was too. Ace was just doing what I would do for him and he knows that.

Psalm 85: 5 You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you. 6 Hear my prayer, Lord; listen to my cry for mercy. 7 When I am in distress, I call to you, because you answer me.

There are 2 things I firmly believe: 1 - I will see my God in Heaven one day and 2 – when I get to Heaven, Ace will be running to me and jumping in my arms to give and receive the biggest hugs of my life.

Remember God's love includes love, mercy and faithfulness. We never have to worry that God will run out of love because it flows from a well that will never run dry.