Our Family!
Brandi Dawn Leister
We love you Brandi, we are missing you with the Father's Hope!
In 2009, us Leisters, living in Kenya visited the USA ( I am sure I have mentioned this before ). As a family we gathered for this once upon a time occasion, giving us an unforgettable opportunity to have a Family Portrait taken. Something I have always enjoyed!
This Portrait was taken by a wonderful friend and family member, Ange Movius! She has an incredible eye when looking through the lens of her camera and a tremendous heart for God! You can see what a success these two create when she makes a photo! Thank you Ange, you have been given such a gift!
Once, while I was sitting in our church sanctuary praying, I received an open vision! God showed me a huge Portrait setting! It was incredible, hundreds of thousands of people standing side by side, it just seemed to go on and on!
God’s joy and righteous pride was all around me! I knew that I was looking through the Infinite, eternal eyes of the Father as He snapped the shutter, just like a Photographer would! This was His, Family Portrait!
Looking through the Father’s eyes is such a honor and most definitely gives us a different perspective than our human eyes let in! As I looked with amazement at what Holy Spirit was showing me, I began to catch what it was that He really wanted me to see.
Even thought the Portrait seemed full, every now and then there was a gap, where just a silhouette appeared and sometimes more than one! I knew that whole connected groups were missing!
The silhouettes were not just empty spaces where the others could have squeezed together and made the picture look more symmetrical and complete. The silhouettes were defining shapes of missing family members, that can not be replaced!
God knows our name, He knows who we are inside and out, He formed us before we were! We are His children!
His heart opened to me and I felt His loss for those missing but also His tremendous, undeniable Hope in their return!
I remember thinking of Jesus’ Parable of the Prodigal son in Luke 15:11 “ There was a man who had two sons. 12) The younger one said to his father, “ Father, give me my share of the estate.” So he divided his property between them.” NIV
Not long after that, the younger son grabbed his stuff and set off for a distant country to squander everything that had been given to him! Soon he was living like the pigs of that country!
Remembering who His father was and how much he had given up, he decided to humbly go back! (Phyllis Leister paraphrase)
20) “ but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” NIV
Holy Spirit nudged me and I could feel Him compelling me to look at the position of the Father! The Father’s Stance was, a Mountain Top one, of watching, searching, drawing his son back by the shear will of His Hope and then not waiting for his son to get to him but running out to meet him!
Horace and I love our Family Portrait, we keep it, right where we can see it everyday! Each one of our family members mean so much to us, it hurts! We know that their lives represent generations of lives not yet seen!
They are each a precious gift from our Heavenly Father! And like our Heavenly Father we look at this Portrait with a different perspective than most people would! There is a silhouette in this picture! Someone is missing and can not be replaced, because she is missing there are others missing as well. Our hearts yearn for their return!
As a family we have several prodigals and with this knowledge, I remembered the picture God painted for me, in Luke, of the Father’s Hope, inspired by His love that can not be denied.
1Corinthians 13: “ 4) Love Is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5) It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ) Love never fails!”
This picture of God’s great Love and His proceeding Hope has inspired me to a Mountaintop watch for our Prodigals!
Let each of us who have children missing from our own and so the Father’s Portrait, join in His active Hope, as His heart searches for each of them! He will find them and carry them back with the Hope that we share! I know that their return will be celebrated in both Heaven and earth!
Luke 15:4 “ Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home, rejoicing,….. “ NIV
As I share all of this, my prayer is, that we be encourage to make Hope an active part of our Motherhood! Not just for those in our immediate family but for those in God’s worldwide family! Many are still missing because they have no hope and have not heard or see this love of the Father described in 1 Corinthians 13. Let’s take our Mountain Top Stance for them also.
And may our Stance of Hope in a eternal Family, designed by God, inspire our children to see themselves as very intricate, essential members of this Family, that they may take their Stance too !
Phyllis Leister Loving the Father
