I’ll Never Let Go! By Gracie Crigger        I was in a department store and noticed a little girl who was crying, apparently, she was lost.  I was about to go over to help when her mother came to dry her tears.  I listened while the little girl sobbed and asked her mother why she let her get lost.  Her mother reminded the little girl that it was her who had let go of her mother’s hand.  The little girl had wanted to explore the store on her own.      I remember thinking back to my childhood.  I thought that I was too big to have to hold on to someone’s hand.      I wanted to be on my own and act like a “grown-up”.  Looking back, I find I always got into more trouble, or I got lost when I strayed too far from my parents’ protective hand.

It was only as I grew and began to mature that I realized that as long as I held onto my parents’ hand, listened to their guidance and kept close to their watchful eye, these were the times when I felt the safest.  My parents were always there when I needed them.  During dangerous situations, they would hold onto my hand more tightly.  When I fell, it was their hand that would lift me up.  As we reflect on our own childhood memories, we can recall numerous times in which we would have been injured, or even killed if our parents had not been holding tightly onto our hands.      You know, God is always there when we need Him.  Just as our parents hold onto our hand to keep us from harm, God knows when there is a problem ahead long before we do.  God knows when there is danger also.  He holds on tightly to keep us safe.  He leads us through the problems.      But, like the little girl who just had to go off on her own, we also at times tear ourselves away from the hand of God.  God will always be there when we find that we are lost and can’t find our own way.  God finds us crying, ready to gratefully accept the security of that large strong hand that reaches down.  Ready to take our hand if we will only reach up and take His. Why is it that we never learn about life until we experience it?  If we would just listen to the cautions from our parents and from God through His word, The Bible, we would learn to avoid problems.  We must first realize that we are lost before we will reach out for help.  We must first realize where that help comes from.  The next time you find yourself scared and lost, remember that God is there!  God is reaching down His hand, waiting for you to reach up to Him so that He can once more take hold of your hand.  God wants to comfort you and dry the tears from your eyes.      What more can we ask than to know that God sent His Son, Jesus, so that we would have a guide to show us the way.  Jesus told us that He would send “The Comforter”.  Jesus tells us that He will be with us: “Lo, I will be with you always, even unto the end of the earth”.  We are never alone, never without a friend.      He’s waiting for you.  He’s waiting to let each of us know that as long as we live, as long as we let Him take our hand, He will never let go.  Remember, it is us who let go of God!