"First Family" © Amy Beth Augustin Barlow 2004

God provides. He took the devestating Fall and moved us forward by giving the matchless gift of family. Keep reading and we quickly see how the seams of this first community brutally came undone, but the gift was still Good. The gift is good because the God is good. How many of us come from families of extreme pain, disappointment or even abandonement? Was the gift bad? Did God make a mistake? Never. Family is a gift - a good gift. God has given us stewardship of our families. He also gave us freedom. With freedom comes the ability to truly love, but also the choice to hate, to waste and even to destroy. And I know, the pain rages...trust me - I know. Some families seem to have a betrayer, a broken system. The crimes are unspeakable. They spin out of control, scarring those who innocently lay in the raging wake. A warzone opens up and the survivors barely stumble to safety. Outside of the garden, the best of God's gifts can become humankind's most fierce weapons. But know for certain...the Giver sees. He is not silent. (Genesis 4:1,2)