Basilea Schlink emphasizes that only those who approach God as humble, dependent children can truly experience His miracles and love. She reflects on how pride and self-sufficiency can hinder our relationship with the Heavenly Father, preventing us from receiving His blessings. Through repentance and a childlike spirit, we can return to the Father's house, where He eagerly awaits to shower us with His goodness. Schlink shares personal testimonies of God's provision and encourages believers to trust in the Father’s care, reminding us that true joy and fulfillment come from living in dependence on Him. Ultimately, she calls us to embrace our identity as God's children, ready to receive His abundant love and miracles.

Who Can Experience God's Miracles? by Basilea Schlinck tells us how each one of us can experience and testify to the Father's love. I come ever singing, the very air is ringing, Our Father in heaven is loving all now. A heart full of kindness, a heart of love and goodness, The heart of the Godhead, and I am His child. I come with my praises for love which so amazes The hearts of His children once full of their sin. A heart full of kindness, a heart of love and goodness, The heart of the Godhead, our Father is He. This song can often be heard on our little land of Canaan, resounding from one end to the other. Our Father in heaven is loving all love. And even if we remain silent, the very houses on Canaan, the gardens, the little lake, and the fountain of the Father's goodness would vie with each other as they praise the goodness of our Heavenly Father. For who can compare with God our Father? His love showers us with all good things, answers our prayers, and shows us His kindness. His love impels Him to comfort and refresh us. But now, the important question, who can experience the Fatherly love of God? For whom can God do miracles? One thing is certain, only the children of the Father, and not strangers or servants, experience the Father's love. Children are the little ones. They are dependent on the Father. They are trusting souls. The first human beings, Adam and Eve, were created by God to be His children. In paradise, they were to experience the fullness of the Father's love. They were to literally taste and enjoy His love. But Adam and Eve wanted to be big and important. They wanted to be like God. So they lost their rights as children. With a flaming sword, the cherubim had to bar them from the Father. They must constantly bring us back down to a child's place, which is always a low one. It is the sign of a child that it doesn't mind being little, that it doesn't have a big voice in adult affairs. As we can remember from our nursery days, children should be seen and not heard. Children shouldn't interrupt the grown-up's conversation. And proper children accept it as natural that their parents correct them and tell them what to do. But no one has ever given us such a true picture of what it means to be a child as our Lord Jesus did. Although He was the Son of God, He learned obedience through what He suffered. He whose splendor fills the heavens Now we see the body earth Not to rule as earthly monarchs Nor display His royal might No, He comes with love to suffer Save men from their grievous plight Heaven is now to us descending Stoops to dwell with us on earth For the Lord of highest heaven Condescends to live with us Deigns in love to help us sinners By enduring sorrow came By the sacrificial offering of Himself In life and death Many people have come into a child's relationship with the Father because they came to know Jesus at their conversion. But they haven't repented, that is, turned back daily from their pride and self-sufficiency, their rebellion against God's chastisements, their self-will, their desire to be honored and respected, and to dominate. That is why their spiritual lives are lame or even dead. They have lost the status of a child, and often without realizing it. Yet our Lord Jesus says, Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18, verse 3 Every day we must repent of our sin and turn away from it, for this urge to rebel, this longing to be important, is deeply ingrained in us all. The Heavenly Father revealed this truth in our sisterhood, especially when we were building our chapel and motherhouse. There came a time during the construction period when we were thrown into overwhelming difficulties, and heaven remained deaf to all our pleas. God didn't help us. We were forced to come to a painful conclusion. Heaven does not belong to us. We have no entrance to the treasures of the Father's house. As we came in silence before the Lord and brought the matter before Him, He also showed us the reason why He withheld His gifts from us. Our haughtiness prevented Him. That was why God couldn't perform any miracles. Looking back on this time, we can't thank our Heavenly Father enough for having done His utmost to make us small and humble. Then He could let us partake again of the treasures of the kingdom of heaven. God showed us our pride, that so often resulted in a spirit of judging and criticism. The building period really brought these sins out in us. When we were digging the foundations, one person would think that the other one was shoveling far too slowly and taking it easy, or someone else would be irritated and say to herself, why doesn't the other sister put away her tools? It took a while before we recognized the spirit of judging as sin and the Holy Spirit could grant us contrition and repentance. After these months, during which the Lord worked to remake us into children, He opened His treasury once more and the necessary money and everything else we needed came in. Then how the songs of joy resounded from our building site. To you thanks now we raise, Father hearken to our praise. Like a river streams your goodness, Overwhelming us with kindness, We taste paradise on earth. You are kind, always kind, Only love to us we find, Joyfully we praise your mercy, Father you are love, love only, You are good, so good to us. However, the matter wasn't finished with a once and for all turning from sin, whether it was during the construction period or in the following years. The Father had to lead us repeatedly along paths of humiliation so that we would repeatedly turn around and become repentant children again. For then heaven could open up to us with its treasures. God's word is yea and amen and it's true. God deals with us according to His word as we have so often experienced. He makes the poor rich and praises them, calling them blessed. He promises the kingdom of heaven to the humble and small and through them He can perform mighty acts. These are the spiritual laws of the kingdom of God. So, do you want to be showered with the gifts of God? Do you want to be rich always? Then seek to be poor in glory and importance. Follow the path of humility and lowliness and God will fulfill His word. No wealth of men can ever claim so joyfully, so joyfully but on the poor all through His name both now and in eternity. Those who become true children in this sense will receive a gift so magnificent, so wonderful that it is beyond our imaginations. Their wealth is so vast, their joy is so great that words fail to describe it. They can have a share in all that belongs to the father and his house. They don't need to fear any longer. They don't have to complain that they lack anything for everything that belongs to the father belongs to the children as well. A servant must indeed be anxious. He only receives a limited amount. But a child always has a right to everything in the father's house. In every dilemma and distress of the body or soul the child can come to the father. The father will never let it suffer from any lack for that is the nature of a true father to provide for his child in every way. We could share many stories about the wonderful care of the Heavenly Father. We have experienced his fatherly provision even in the smallest details. Yes, even when it comes to our shoes. Shoes are one of the items we don't buy. If we need a pair, we tell our Heavenly Father turning to Him confidently in prayer. And time and again a package arrives with second-hand or sometimes even brand-new shoes. So often sisters who have great need of shoes and perhaps have prayed for a long time as well will find among the shoes a pair that is just the right size. Yes, even sisters who need a special support for their shoes have experienced that the father also provides these at the right moment. Once a sister who had especially large feet prayed a long time for a pair of shoes. She really needed them. However, no package contained a pair large enough. Nevertheless, even in this situation, the father had a way. One day we received an envelope with a gift of money with a note attached, only to be used for a pair of shoes. However, even then the problem wasn't solved. No shoe store seemed to carry this size of shoes for this amount of money. Full of trust, the sister begged the father to do a father miracle so that she wouldn't have to return home without the shoes. In the third shoe store, the price proved once more to be too expensive. But at the last minute, the owner of the store appeared and said that she could have the shoes at a reduced price. He named the sum. It was exactly the amount of money in the envelope. We could go on all day sharing such stories of how we've experienced the goodness of the father. Not one hair falls from our head without the heavenly father's knowing and allowing it. And he is just as truly concerned about our smallest needs. Many other Christians have experienced the same. The father never disappoints the trust of his children. Sometimes we've had to pray for special foods for those who were ill. Time and again, the necessary supplies would arrive within a short space of time, although no one knew about our prayers. Yes, the provision of our heavenly father is overwhelming. It's really worth it to put one's complete trust in him. The father thinks of everything and takes care of everything. We've experienced this ever since we started to live according to the verse in Scripture, Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. Matthew 6, verse 33 For us, this means all gifts of money are used for our commissions, for printing machines and paper, for the care of retreat guests, for our radio ministry and many other concerns, but no longer for ourselves personally. However, ever since we started living this way, we've experienced that all the sisters receive at the right time the necessary linen, toothpaste, soap, shoe polish, rubber bands and all the small articles necessary for daily life. To this very day, we have never bought these things, but have always brought our requests to the heavenly father. And it's really true. Now, for over 25 years, we have never suffered want. In every case, the essential items arrived in time. Jesus has attained for us the privilege of being legal children of the father who have a right in the father's house and share in its treasures. They will also experience the father's miracles. Jesus wants us to be children of the father, joyful and happy. Real children are carefree, full of boundless trust to the father. They don't think highly of themselves or put their trust and confidence in themselves. Rather, they are all the more filled with a boundless trust in the father, so they know nothing of extreme poverty and worry. For children, it is enough to know the father loves and cares for them. Heavenly father, I'm thy child Tell me, is there anything in the world more blessed? How can trouble hurt or harm While I rest within God's arm God esteems me precious We too could feel like this if everything were right in our hearts, if we became like children. The heart of the father yearns so much for us, for we are his children. We have come from his hand. The father tore his only son from his heart, letting him undergo unspeakable agony, and all so that we might return to the father's house. Adam and Eve forsook the father's house in their self-importance, and now the father does everything he can to help us come home again, so that we may be willing to live in complete dependence upon him as little children. Don't we know from our own lives we just aren't happy on our independent ways separated from the father? Our lives bear witness to this fact. They are shattered by fear and worries. We can say little of miracles and help from God. We know so little of his inexpressible love that pours down upon us and showers us with his gifts. God would so like to perform miracles in our lives. He wants to shower us with all good things. Let's think back now and ask ourselves, how often, if ever, have we rejoiced in our hearts with true gratitude for the father's help, his wonderful deeds and leadings? If we haven't done so, then we haven't lived as small, dependent, humble children in the father's house. If we have lost the sense of wonder and amazement at the mercy of the heavenly father, then we have become like prodigal sons who have made themselves independent. This often happens without our even realizing it. But someone does notice and is grieved. God, our father. His fatherly heart knows no peace until we have all returned home. A father wants to have his children by his side at home. So every day it is a fresh stab in his heart when we don't live in childlike dependence upon him. He watches us with troubled eyes as we go about our daily work detached from him and independent. He is grieved when we take care of everything without remaining in continual conversation with him, without praying for help. Do we realize how the father laments over his children who have strayed so far from him in their self-sufficiency and haughtiness? The love of God is mourning O endless grief O endless grief That man whom he has created That man whom he has created Has gone so far away The Heavenly Father waits for us. In his love he plans to shower us with an abundance of all good things. He wants to make us happy with the wealth of his gifts. But he can only show himself as the father to those sons who return home to him. He can only bestow his salvation on repentant sinners who, as humble, small children, clasp the feet of the father. But whoever is like the prodigal son, whoever comes home begging for forgiveness for his independence and self-importance, will experience something inconceivably wonderful. The Heavenly Father will shower him with endless love. In a terrible plight, deserted and despised by all, utterly humiliated, the prodigal son turns his way back to the father's house. But when the father sees him, he rushes out to greet him with a kiss, hugs him with inexpressible love, and showers him with all good things. Then the son is brought into the banquet hall where there is joy, music, singing and dancing. A feast is being held in his honor. Incredible? But yes, the father himself dresses the son in a festive garment and puts the ring, the symbol of his love, on his son's finger. Could we be more loved than by our father in heaven? What could be more blissful than to live as humble, dependent children in the father's house? Now the long-lost son tastes what he missed in his self-sufficiency, his unbelievable haughtiness and independence all those years away from the father's house. Now he finds the true riches, real bliss, and where else but in the father's house. Now he realizes that only the father's love alone can make him happy and not the pleasures he sought in his independence, which only brought him misfortune and despair. How the father is waiting to pour out his love on all his children. God, the Almighty, enjoys doing great deeds even for the least of his children. Yes, God wants to perform miracles. He wants to do great deeds that correspond to his greatness and glory. Love always wants to share itself, and so God wants to impart his love to his children, making them abundantly rich and happy. That is why the love of God the father is calling us, beckoning us home today, home to the father's house. There we will find fullness of joy and bliss. Will you hear this call? Will you set out to return home where the father is waiting to embrace you? Love of God, a father's love today, to seek the sinner lost and bring him home again. A father's love, for open is your heart, to all to whom you did their life impart. Let every mom, the rising sun conveys love's message to us, borne upon its healing face. A father's love, a love which knows no end, your heart stoops down each sinner to befriend. However deep may sin your child enthrall, your hand will find, your father's voice in love will call. O heart of God, so full of pity kind, all that is weak and poor can mercy find. You send us heavenly help in every need. Your mighty arm, your only son is aid indeed. Text and songs by Mother Basilea Schlink of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, Darmstadt-Eberstadt, West Germany.