The Reason to Live

Part 3 of Sami's The Reason to Live! 

Part 3

The Answers

“You?” I gaped as the door opened. Standing there, looking equally surprised, 

was the boy I had freed earlier from King. “What are you doing here?”

“Returning Sparky,” I replied. “What are you doing here?”

“This is my house.”

“Oh.” I patted Sparky’s back one last time before stepping back. “Sparky does live here right?” 

“Sparky!” a small voice squealed. Behind the boy appeared a girl, maybe eight, sitting in a wheelchair. Her hair was a soft wispy brown and her eyes a light brown. Her mouth was curved in an irresistible smile. 

Whinnying, Sparky shoved past the boy and charged toward the girl. He stuck his nose in her hand and she stroked and patted him. “Thank you so much for finding Sparky. You have no idea how much he means to me. I’m Alice, by the way,” she looked lovingly at the mischievous pet. 

“I’m Liv” I said softly. I knew it was impolite to stare, but I couldn’t help it. The girl’s only limb was her right arm. The rest just weren’t there. 

“Elijah, invite our guest inside,” the girl smirked at her brother. “Come in,” Elijah opened the door wider. “I shouldn’t,” I quickly took another step back. “Oh yes you should,” Alice looked over her shoulder and hollered. “Mama, can you set another place for supper?” 

My world turned absolutely upside down from that moment on. Somehow, I found myself sitting at the dinner table of the Olsen family. I talked little during the meal, just thankful for the food itself. They, on the other hand, talked about many things. But what caught my attention the most was when they started talking about God. Something told me that this Jesus was what my heart had yearned for every since I could remember. 

Alice, who turned out to be a very strong willed and stubborn child, insisted that I come over for supper the next night, then the night after that. She told everyone that Jesus had sent me to them, with a little help from Sparky getting lost of course. And her parents believed her. They said it had happened before. And by before, they meant when Elijah found his way to their home. 

Soon, I found myself at the Olsen’s place every evening. They accepted me into their home as if I was their own daughter. But what I really looked forward to was talking about 

God. All my past was forgotten every time the family gathered for worship to read the Bible. My heart swelled with love for this Jesus who came down to earth to save us. 

Just think, the King of the Universe came down to our sinful world to save us. To save us! My mind could not comprehend why someone so holy would do that for next to worthless human beings. The only answer I could come up with was that the Creator loves His creation so much that He would give His life for us. And that is exactly what He did. Church every Sabbath became a regular activity. I started Bible studies with the pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Olsen’s set up a room for me in their house and Alice would not stop talking about trying to convince her parents to adopt me. 

It was exactly one year later that two of the most important events in my life happened. 

It was Sabbath and I was sitting between Elijah and Alice, with Sparky at our feet, in the car on our way to church. 

The day before, Mr. and Mrs. Olsen had officially adopted me as their daughter. I cried like a baby. Alice was speechless, something that never happened, and only Elijah, who had grown to be like a brother to me, had enough sense in him right then to help me sit down before I fell over onto the tile floor. And now, I was getting baptized, accepting my place in Jesus’ family of believers. 

I waited in a room behind the sanctuary for what seemed to be hours before they were ready. I nearly ran to the pastor. Most people would have gotten nervous about being up front, but not me. I was eager to be an official member of God’s family. 

“Liv, we now baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” Pastor James lowered me into the water. Feelings to hard to explain filled me heart and tears of happiness ran down my cheeks as I was lifted from the water. It felt like God was right there, tears streaming down His own face, wrapping me in an embrace of peace, welcoming me into my two new families. My earthly family with the Olsen’s and my heavenly family with God. 

I turned to look at the clapping and cheering congregation. Then my heart nearly stopped. There was Blade, standing at the back of the sanctuary. He was looking straight at me. Giving Pastor James a hug, I jumped out of the water and ran down the aisle, falling into the arms of Blade. 

After that day, my life burned for Jesus, I wanted to tell everyone about Him. I started with Blade and he came to accept Jesus into his life. God placed many people in my life from then on. There were so many people that needed to hear the Good News. Sometimes I asked God for someone I could tell about Him and other times, people just somehow popped into my life that needed a Savior. Years flew by and I was involved in the church as much as possible. You could almost say I lived there. I went on all the mission trips I could and every opportunity to reach people around Chicago I took. 

Jesus had given me a reason to live. Live for Him.

~Izzy~