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Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.
Corrie ten Boom
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Growing up, my mother read many books to her children. This is one of my favorite memories. Among those books was the classic tale Heidi. While most people know this story in its abridged form, or in the stripped-down film versions from Hollywood, this story is a wonderful tale of redemption. The grace of God is apparent throughout and Heidi eventually finds relationship with God through her interaction with two Godly “grandmothers.” Despite her initial rejection of God for not answering her prayers according to her own timetable, Heidi comes to trust that God will work everything perfectly in His time.
After a period of separation from her beloved grandfather, she returns home to him full of the knowledge that God has her best interest at heart. Eager to share this newfound treasure with the one she loves most, she reads her grandfather the tale of the Prodigal Son. She explains that many times we are like the Prodigal, who turns to his own way and finds ruin. Her grandfather responds by saying:
“And if it once is so, it is so always; no one can go back, and he whom God has forgotten, is forgotten forever.”
“Oh, no grandfather, we can go back, for grandmamma told me so, and so it was in the beautiful tale in my book…” (Spyri 204).
Heidi goes on to explain the love of the Father as the Prodigal returns with his words of penitence and humility. She notices her grandfather is grave and thoughtful, and soon takes herself to bed, leaving him to his musings. Later that night, unbeknownst to her, he whispers these words in prayer: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee and am not worthy to be called thy son” (Spyri 207). Later the next day after many unexpected and out-of-character actions on the part of her grandfather, Heidi remarks that she never saw him like that before; he gets “nicer and nicer”. He responds with the statement “Well, yes, Heidi, I am happier today than I deserve, happier than I had thought possible; it is good to be at peace with God and man! God was good to me when He sent you to my hut” (211).
Just as the father of the Prodigal Son waited anxiously for the return of his son, so God waits with open arms for us to turn to Him through His revealed redemption, Jesus Christ. In acceptance of His provision, we find restoration with the Father, and we understand what His plan was all along. In a paraphrase of John 1:12-13 we read a simple but inspiring summation of the Gospel: “For anyone who says yes to Jesus, for anyone who believes what Jesus said, for anyone who will just reach out to take it, then God will give them this wonderful gift: to be born into a whole new life, to be who they really are, who God always made them to be - their own true selves - God’s dear child” (Lloyd-Jones 351).
Works Cited
Lloyd-Jones, Sally, and Jago. The Jesus storybook Bible: every story whispers his name.
Spyri, Johanna. Heidi. Childrens Classics, 1986.
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