My Dear Child,

Thank you for the wonderful birthday gift! So many people these days have forgotten that it is My birthday they are celebrating during the Christmas season.

This is really wonderful.... I love My new website! I feel right at home here, because I know just how much you love Me and enjoy My Presence. I always feel so welcome in your heart. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

My child, I want to also thank you for trusting and believing in Me even in those very darkest of times when it had to have seemed as though even I, your Lord, had forsaken you. But no, My child, I was merely gathering you unto Myself and holding you ever so closely so that you would always and forever stay in My arms and close to My Heart.

And yes, My child, I did read every one of those precious love letters you wrote Me and left under the back porch! I know you've always wondered about that. Well, now you know! And they are all safely tucked in My Heart's dearest memories.

How those precious letters delighted Me, for you had placed such trust in Me, and inspite of all you were going through you never stopped believing in Me, nor loving Me. (But I do remember that time you got awful mad at Me! Oh my, how you sputtered and spat! Like a little wild tigress, you were! But I understood.....and forgave. And loved you all the more, My high-spirited little tigress!)

I remember how, as a little child, you would crawl into a corner somewhere and rock back and forth and say over and over, "He will never leave me, He will never forsake me, even though my mother and my father have forsaken me, my Lord and Savior NEVER will." And you were right, my child. Your Sunday school teacher that you loved so dearly taught you well. I was right there beside you every single moment of those torturous days, and every moment of your frightfully lonely nights, holding you ever so closely to My Loving Heart..

It was I, your Gentle Shepherd, who kept you warm when it was snowing and you had no coat. It was I who carried you when the soles of your shoes came loose, and you tried to tie them back on, but the string would break as you walked on them. So I picked you up and carried you in My Arms wherever you had to go. And I loved the way you would just snuggle in. We have had such good times together, you and I. Yes, many, many good times, and I remember them all. You are soooo loved, My child. Yes, so very, very loved.

Oh, how My heart ached for you as your classmates would mock and tease you. Oh yes, I know it was so very painful you, but I held you as you cried, and I sent you flowers and beautiful sunsets and rainbows to assure you of My everlasting Love for you, and I even sent you that little stray kitten, because I knew how badly you needed something physical to hug and to hold onto. Yes, my child, as painful as it was, I was taking the clay of your very being and molding you into something very special and dear to Me.

You see, I alone believed in you, and I knew that you would one day grow into a fine young lady with the most tender of hearts, and that you would always have great love and compassion for others, especially the poor and the down-trodden, and of course, your dearly beloved elderly folks. Wasn't I clever to have you live near a wonderful little church and a nice nursing home? And Oh, how those sweet little elder folk soaked up all your loves and kisses, as you did theirs. That's what life is about, My child....loving one another, and you do it so well. Thank you!

I know it has always frustrated you to have lost so many years of your childhood into a vacumn of total oblivion. I, your Lord, have allowed you to remember only what I wish you for you to recall. Those lost memories, my child, are of no use to you. Take My word for it, dear child, you don't want to know those things right yet. Leave them to Me, and I will take care of them for you until you come Home to Me and I then I shall reveal them to you when you will have a better understanding of things. Do not grieve for moments lost, nor try to delve too deeply into that which is better left buried in the sands of time.

Think instead, of all the beautiful sunsets and rainbows My Father and I sent just especially for you. Father is busy right now, making you another special rainbow, but He sends His love.

And I too, love you with all My Heart,
Your very own Gentle Shepherd