Sermon Illustrations
Mother Recognizes "Dead" Daughter
In 1997, a rapidly moving blaze destroyed the Philadelphia home of Luz Cuevas. It was concluded that, tragically, the fire had killed and completely consumed her 10-day old infant daughter, Delimar. Amid the charred rubble of the family home, the small body was never found. The family grieved and slowly moved on with life.
Six years later, Luz Cuevas was invited to a child's birthday party. There, a small dimple on the face of a six-year-old girl triggered an overwhelming instinct in Luz. She quietly told her sister, "Look. She's my daughter." The sister thought Luz was losing her mind, but the mother could not be convinced she was mistaken. Telling the little girl she had gum in her hair, Luz managed to take a few strands of hair from the child in hopes a DNA test would prove her instincts right.
Subsequently, the Philadelphia police confirmed that the child was Delimar, Luz's lost daughter. Delimar had been kidnapped and raised by Carolyn Correa, who started the fire to cover the crime. After six years of "death," she returned home to be with her real family, very much alive.
Just as this mother knows her daughter, so God knows us to an infinite degree.