Letters to God

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
2 Corinthians 3:3 

I watched this movie "Letters to God" this evening with my family. I haven't seen a movie this good in a long time. I can't often say that a movie truly inspired me, but this one sure did, especially at the end when I found out this movie was inspired by a true story.

It was incredible to see the way the boy in this movie, Tyler, touched and inspired the people around him, simply by writing letters, letters to God. This boy was dying of cancer, and instead of worrying about dying, he was writing letters to God, asking him to help others around him when he was gone. He wasn't scared about the fact that he was going to die of cancer, he knew God was taking care of him. Towards the end of this movie, you see the impact Tyler had when the mailmen come in with bags full of letters to God that other people had written because of him. One bag was dumped out in front of him, with hundreds of letters in it, and those were only the ones from Tyler's school. 

Now think about it. How often do we worry about the things that we think are going to ruin our days, or weeks, or in this case, our lives? We, or I at least, barely stop to think about the fact that maybe this is happening for a reason, maybe God wants to help someone else or reach out to someone else through these things. In Philippians 4:6, "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." This is exactly what Tyler did. He didn't worry about what was going to happen to him. I mean, I don't doubt that he was very scared at times, but he didn't let it get to him. When he felt scared or worried, he wrote a letter to God, he prayed about it. 

Philippians 4 goes on to say that we will then "experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand." I believe Tyler experienced this peace. You can see it in the letters he wrote. He was totally at peace about dying and going to heaven. He never wrote in his letters that he didn't want to die, he always prayed for others instead. 

I think we can all learn something from Tyler. He has really inspired me to stop for a minute and think when I'm in a situation that feels like it's the end of the world. He's inspired me to think about the fact that maybe, just maybe, God put me in that situation for a reason, and think about who's life God may want to touch through it. Next time you find yourself in a tough situation, just stop and think, "How will God work and display His power through this?"