A Letter from God

by Lori Wilson

An original reflection on Scripture's most persistent message.

Years ago, I came across a letter written by a pastor named Barry Adams. He had woven together a collection of scripture verses into a letter written in God's voice, and when I first read it, I thought, God wrote me a letter. It moved something deep in me and it still does. I have shared it in retreats and on this website ever since.

What follows is my own reflection on that same inexhaustible truth, drawn from Scripture, shaped by the themes I return to again and again in my own life and in my work as a spiritual director. It is not Barry's letter. It is mine, offered to you from the same place his came from, a conviction that God has been trying to reach you your whole life, and is reaching still.

Read it slowly. Let it land where it wants to land. And when you are finished, I have one simple invitation for you.

Dear One,

I have known you longer than you have known yourself. Jeremiah 1:4–5

Before you were born, I was thinking of you. Psalm 139:13–14

You are not here by accident. I planned for you. Ephesians 1:11

Every day of your life was written in my book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16

I know when you sit down and when you rise up. Psalm 139:2

I am familiar with all your ways, even the ones you hide. Psalm 139:3

And I love you still. Completely. Without condition. Romans 8:38–39

I know you have felt alone. I have been with you in every one of those moments. Psalm 23:4

When you walked through the darkest valley, I was there. Psalm 23:4

When the house was too quiet and the longing too loud, I was there. Isaiah 43:2

I have carried you close to my heart, even when you could not feel it. Isaiah 40:11

I have been trying to reach you. I still am. Revelation 3:20

I speak through the Scripture you almost skipped over. 2 Timothy 3:16

Through the song that came on at exactly the right moment. Zephaniah 3:17

Through the friend who asked the question you weren't ready for. Proverbs 27:9

Through the gentle whisper, after all the noise has passed. 1 Kings 19:12

I have called your name more times than you know. 1 Samuel 3:10

And I will keep calling. I am not easily discouraged. Lamentations 3:22–23

I know there are things inside you that you have never shown anyone. Psalm 44:21

Anger you were afraid to feel. Grief you didn't know what to do with. Psalm 34:18

Longing that has gone unanswered longer than you think is fair. Psalm 13:1–2

Bring it all. I can hold it. I am not fragile. Psalm 62:8

I am the God who overturned tables when love required it. John 2:15

I understand holy anger. I understand holy grief. John 11:35

You do not have to be composed to come to me. Matthew 11:28

My thoughts toward you are more than you could count. Psalm 139:17–18

My plans for you are filled with hope, not harm. Jeremiah 29:11

I rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17

I will never stop doing good to you. Jeremiah 32:40

Nothing you have done, nothing you have felt, nothing you have hidden

can separate you from my love. Romans 8:38–39

I am not asking you to have it all figured out. Proverbs 3:5–6

I am not asking you to be further along than you are. Philippians 1:6

I am asking you to be still, even for a moment, and listen. Psalm 46:10

I have something to say to you. Isaiah 30:21

I have always had something to say to you. Jeremiah 33:3

You are not alone.

You are not forgotten.

You are not too much, and you are not too little.

You are mine, and I am yours, and that has never changed.

With a love that will not let you go, God (Theo, Thea)

An invitation

Find a quiet place and a few unhurried minutes. Read the letter again, slowly. Let yourself notice what surfaces, what moves you, what surprises you, what you find hard to receive.

Then write a letter back. You don't need to be eloquent. You don't need to have the right words. Just write honestly, the way you would to someone who already knows you and loves you anyway.

What do you want to say to God today?

Inspired by "Father's Love Letter" by Barry Adams, Father Heart Communications, copyright 1999. Used with gratitude. The original letter, available in over 125 languages, can be found at fathersloveletter.com.