Sunday, August 26, 2007

Dearest God,

Deep sadness was in her voice. Brokenheartedness. Deeds done in the past have clasped their tentacles around her family. She is desperately trying to stay connected to faith to lead her.

There is courage, then there is courage. She is one of the most courageous people I know. She is following her heart and her soul is trying to steady her.

If Mother Teresa could care for a world of lost, poor people all the while functioning out of darkness, I pray my friend will be able to do what she needs to do while functioning out of tremendous loss. They're both spiritual teachers.

Faith is the answer, a belief system foundational to the human experience. It remains standing although the winds of change and disbelief blow. Pain and suffering rise up in the gut sweemingly out of nowhere. Clinging to what one knows to be true while the heart is breaking weathers many storms.

Life is exceedingly difficult at times. Breathing takes on new challenges. Sometimes you want to breathe and other times you do not. But breath forces its way in to help life forces. Light fights with the darkness until the two stop fighting and realize they are companions to one another. Conflict does not have to result because God is in both. The darkness can say what the light cannot and vice versa. Darkness is not always evil; it is sometimes just darkness.

I pray my friend will know the wind that blows is friendly, reminding her of its constant presence. She is not alone in her endeavor. Her courage rises out of faith and her strength comes from the light in the darkness. And you are with her.

Master Physician,
healing broken hearts
is at the center
of your existence.
Your loving grace
is the ointment
of wholeness.
I pray for my friend.
May she cling
to all she knows
to be true.
May she be given
a glimpse
of eternity's hope
as she walks
through the valley
of the shadow
of death.

Love, Andrea