This is a letter for mothers, not every mother, but some who have faced a particular sort of agony for their children. Do you have a son who, in his teenage years or in adulthood, left home, responsibility, and the conventional way of life for a life on the tracks, perhaps as a drunk or drug addict? Did your son live under bridges, along the river, becoming a dumpster diver, frequenting homeless shelters? Did he suffer scorn and disgust?

I have met your son! Years ago he came to our homeless shelter and decided to stay and give his life to Jesus. As I sit in Bible study with him I see that he is closer to Jesus than most in the outside world because he knows where he has come from and it has cost him everything to get where he is now. Your son knows whom he is and that he comes to God with nothing but the ravages and ruin of sin. I am deeply humbled by his humility.

I have talked with your son as a friend. He listened to my struggles and heartaches and he sobbed aloud with me. He begged me to love the one I was hurting. I knelt at his feet and he held my hand and I knew that he felt the pain of what I had done as though it were his own. I stood in awe at the way Jesus had spoken to me. Your son was Jesus to me!

Be encouraged, mother. See through the eyes of God. Know that those who serve your son are serving Jesus. But know that the greatest wonder of all is that your son, in the likeness of Jesus, serves those whom God sends to him.
Surely there is no greater joy for a mother!