Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Dear God,

All around me I hear pleas for help. A man who recently lost his wife. A friend who lost a friend. A woman feeling condemned. A man who lost his job. A woman who is very ill.

It is a season of sorrow, it seems to me. And this season is not one we like to enter. But like all seasons, it cannot be avoided. Loss will come. Misundersanding will come. Illness will come. It is part of the cycle of life. But the truth is that while all these weigh heavy upon us, it is then that the sweetness of your loving comfort will also come. We may want more than this; often we will devalue the great value it is. We may think we need more or something better or quicker; but what can be of greater value than eternity wrapping us in love?

How many times have I felt this love? When I have felt myself at the bottom, in the darkness and despairing, my pleas brought this package from heaven. And when I have allowed it to touch me, I have been saved. I let go into your arms; I trusted you to warm my heart again. I have felt joy and peace I could not otherwise have manufactured myself.

Yes, it is a season of sorrow. But it is also a season of compassion. Although we may want to retreat, to step away from others, to draw back so sorrow will not claim us as victim, perhaps we need to just remain steady, allowing the forces of heaven to minister to us, lay its claim upon us as children bringing love, hope, comfort, and grace. Sometimes another person's sorrow projects its pain on us and we think another is just trying to hurt us, when in reality their own pain has spilled out. When we fail to wait upon the Lord, we take our sorrow out on someone else.

Oh Lord, to live in the NOW waiting patiently for the angels to arrive, is the only place I long to be. In that lane, that open place where you come to visit, to help, guide, comfort and strengthen, I stand in faith. Everything I believe about you becomes my shield from the piercing darts. I stand tall knowing that my strength is being made new.

I am not alone in my suffering. And neither is anyone else. For you come bringing the salve of eternity, the salve of hope, the salve of grace, the salve of love.

Pour out
your salve
upon your
hurting people,
dear God.
Make our trust
grow deeper
and wider
so that
any situation
can become
a waiting time
for you,
an anticipation
that the
forces of heaven
are even now
moving toward us.
Teach us patience
for in waiting
we are refined,
strengthened,
built up.
Our resources
are renewed;
our resolve
determined.
You are
the God
of compassion,
the One
to whom
we cling
when our hearts
are broken.
You hold
the pieces
in your hands;
reverently,
you take
each one
and begin
the process
of refashioning
a new heart
because the oil
of gladness,
your oil
of gladness
mixes in
with our
heart pieces
reshaping us
with a part
of you.
When I think
of it,
I am overwhelmed
with joy.
For my God
has come.

Love, Andrea