The first few days of August, I injured my lower back wrestling with a heavy potted plant. It's a month later and I still have pain - however - there's hope on the horizon as I'm getting a nerve block Friday. I am so looking forward to this and am trusting that it will work.
But you know, what I have is minor compared to others I know who are suffering greatly. It is almost overwhelming for me to think of people in my circle who are truly needing an intervention from our God. I know He knows all, sees all, and works in ways we cannot even imagine to care for us, His children - I know He knows our sorrows.
I am going to be brave and try to put into words something I have not shared with many but if you know me well, you will understand. I have always been tenderhearted, with a tendency to cry during coffee commercials, movies, TV shows - you name it. When I tell people goodbye I choke up. When I look at my friend and she's sharing her heart and I see tears, I'm there. I've actually gotten to the point where I could not speak at a couple of memorable staffings when talking with parents about their kids. When I have to deliver hard news to a parent, particularly that my findings are that their child is intellectually disabled (used to be called mentally retarded), I practice for days before ever meeting with them so that I can make it through that difficult conversation and maintain composure.
Today at school a friend needed someone to talk to. As she shared a very difficult situation with me regarding her family, she apologized for "burdening" me, and I heard myself say to her as I hugged her: "It's ok, I've got room for you to give it to me".
Tonight, it seems the weight of the world's sorrows are upon me. My heart is broken for police officers affected by violence and for racial tension which is ever present. I am sorrowful for those I know who are suffering from cancer, those who have been recently widowed, and those who are living with mental illness. It is overwhelming.
And then, two days ago, I ran into this you tube video which someone posted on Facebook, of a flash mob singing Every Praise in downtown Birmingham Alabama. I have viewed it several times. I have sung it all day at work. I have listened to it tonight again. And I STILL cannot make it through without tears. It for some reason, has resonated deeply within me, teaching me, reminding me, and comforting me that God is our Savior, He's our Healer, and He's our Deliverer. Every praise, every word of praise, every hallelujah, is to our God.
A lot of the burden I feel is for our world today. I have no solutions for the mess we're in, and we people living in these United States - we are truly in a mess. No politician will save us. No leader who arises will save us. No government will save us. Our only hope is to trust in the living God, who brings to power rulers and authorities as He wills and just as easily dismantles them. What I'm longing for is a wind sweeping over the land, a holy wind, a Spirit of healing, hope, and of conviction - a Spirit who will turn our hearts toward our God so that every praise and every hallelujah is to Him.
I long for the Church to arise, and to boldly proclaim truth with great power. I long for people to hear that truth, and to hear the voice of God who loves them so dearly and who wants them to come into His family. And as much as people would like to blame the Republicans for the mess Kansas is in, and the Democrats for the mess Washington is in, the truth of the matter is that the mess we're in is because we as a nation have strayed far from Truth. We have not bowed our hearts to Him and thus, we have sinned. We have proudly and boldly proclaimed error as truth and God as a fairy tale. We have decided for ourselves what is right and what is wrong, and we are complacent and compromising, putting our trust not in God, but in those who lead us astray.
Every praise is to our God. Every word of praise is to our God. Every hallelujah is to our God.
If you believe this, then I challenge you to live it. Here's a link to the flash mob at 5 Points South in Birmingham. Copy and paste, or go to You Tube and search for it using that title.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRnMGWBa7Ko
1 comment:
Paul talks, in II Corinthians 11, of his "burden for all the churches" on top of everything else he has gone through for the sake of the Gospel of Christ. At the end of that part of his letter, he says, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
It is in our weakness and brokenness that God delights to work within us. Paraphrasing what Jonathan, son of Saul the King said to his armor-bearer in I Samuel, "perhaps God will act for us, for nothing can keep God from saving if His people, whether many or few, place themselves at His disposal."
If we place ourselves at His disposal, to do with as He wishes, we may well be surprised to see what God may delight to do through us.
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