Before our first child Lee, was born, I was shopping in the baby section, at what I thought, at the time was a fancy store, where I found a soft, adorable brown teddy bear with a red bow around his neck and as a bonus when you wound it up, it played music and its head turned. Because it was on sale I was able to buy it. 

See when Jeff and I were first married, we barely had 10 cents left over at the end of the month once we paid our bills and bought groceries. So any kind of purchase outside the bare necessities was an extravagant purchase. 

Lee loved that bear and toted it around with him everywhere he went! He was about 4 or 5yrs old when we attended a friend’s wedding and we stayed at a hotel. As we were packing up, I told Lee to get all his stuff which included a backpack of fun goodies and things to keep him busy on the road and of course his teddy bear. 

Unfortunately when we got home. Teddy was nowhere to be found and yes it was one of those times that I did not go back into the hotel after we had packed up the car and stripped the sheets off the bed, put them in a pile,  looked under every bed as I if I worked for the CIA and was doing a recon sweep of every part of the room, looking for secret documents. Just to assure my family did not leave anything. Nope! I failed! Lee was devastated and I received the worst mom of the year award. We’ve all been there right? 

But in that season of life. I choose to use it as a teaching lesson for Lee to be more responsible. I did call the hotel and ask if they had found it, but of course no one turned it in.

Fast forward some 20 plus years later, Lee’s wife is pregnant with our first grandson and  Jeff’s name sake and I am trying to think of a really memorable gift to give to them. So I decided to go on a hunt for Teddy! I begin looking at all the stores I thought he could be at. I found the company that made him, but of course they don’t make them any longer. Then someone mentioned ebay. 

So, I did a google search and you guessed it!  There was a lady who had one exactly like Lee’s in perfect condition. So, I contacted her and was able to purchase it for him and let me tell you I think I paid about 10 times the amount I paid for the original one. But I didn’t care, I would have pretty much paid any amount to get it.  

As you can guess, It was a pretty special moment when Lee opened up that package, but what was even more special was some 4 plus years later when Lee’s son came walking into my house carrying teddy. 

Teddy is a little more tattered these days! His ribbon is wearing out . His fur is a little matted from food and who knows what else he has been through. But all those imperfections just show how well loved he is. 

You know there is a parable in the bible that talks about loss. In Matthew 18 it says, “12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray and gets lost, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountain and go in search of the one that is lost? 13 And if it should be that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not get lost. 14 Just so it is not the will of My Father Who is in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost and perish.” (Amplified version of the bible)

This parable is really saying that God will do anything to bring His children into a personal relationship with Him. He sent his son to die on a Christ, so that we might be saved! In verse 11 there of Matthew it also says “For the Son of Man came to save that which was lost” What did he come to save us from? The penalty of eternal death! 

Our sin (handed down from Adam and Eve) has separated us from God and we can only bridge that separation by accepting His Son Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. 

That means we give up our wants, wills and desires and surrender our life and everything in it to Him! Then the heavens rejoice everytime someone surrenders their life to Christ. 

Even more so than we rejoiced when we found Teddy! Oh! It might not be the original teddy but how many of us haven’t followed God’s plan exactly? I want you to know He still rejoices everytime someone comes to Him! 

There is nothing we can do that will separate us from God’s love. But if we truly love Him, Our life should reflect Him. It doesn’t matter how much we have been through, how tattered and matted our life feels. We can know that we are loved and carried in the arms of God if we have surrendered our life to Him. 

Maybe you feel lost, maybe you feel like your life is in tatters, You need to know there is a God out there who loves you and cares about you more than you can know and He was and is willing to do whatever it takes to bring you back into relationship with Him. 

He left his throne in heaven to come to earth as a baby so He could give His life so that we could have eternal life and live with Him forever. 

Will you surrender your heart today? Will you decide that you are going to live for Christ no matter what it takes? If you are saying yes to that today. I want you to do 2 things. First, contact me through the comments on here and tell me that you decided to come to Christ and surrender your life to Him. Then, go ahead and find a bible believing church in your area or I will be happy to find you one. But you need a community to grow in whether it is online now because of Covid or in person. 

But know today , the heavens are rejoicing just like we did when we found teddy (honestly even more so) Because you are loved and that is the greatest gift of all!