Completely at random, while looking for one book in my office, I grabbed another. I leafed through a few pages and then…BAM.

In our series, JOY-When Life & Faith Collide, I’ve been wanting to give help and encouragement to people who struggle through the holiday season. Maybe they struggle because of the news of cancer, or the breakup of a relationship or they miss that special someone who won’t be with them again this Christmas season. Whatever the pain, the apostle Paul says JOY is possible. It’s possible if we turn to the One that loves us no matter what. So, while our circumstances may change, and not always for the better, the one constant we can lean into is that our loving Father is exactly and consistently that…LOVING.

So, with all of this rattling around in my little brain, I opened Come Before Winter, by Charles Swindoll. It’s a devotional book with some amazing depth. Now, here is the story that he quotes, the one I came across, the one…I had to share:

It comes from The Velveteen Rabbit, a classic children’s book with a message for all of us adults. In this story is a great dialogue between a new toy rabbit and an old skin horse. It begins with the rabbit asking the horse:

“What is REAL? Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become REAL.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are REAL you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

Yes, most of my hair has been LOVED OFF! ha

Hopefully you’ll see the reality of God’s love for you in the midst of it all. After all, He is the one who makes you REAL. Keep running to Him!