Saturday, February 16, 2013

Dear God,

I called my friend who had just been taken home after a critical bout in the hospital.  Her cancer had returned.  She had gone through a second set of treatments.  She developed an abscess.  She was rushed to the hospital.  She had surgery.  Her kidneys started failing.  She was nauseated and couldn't eat.  She said the day before she was so close to calling me because she was in a very deep, dark, and scary place.  I told her that must have been why I had prayed for her so many times during the day.  You had called me to prayer.

While she spoke you brought a vision to me.  I saw myself in a deep, dark, and despairing place like a very deep well, so deep that when I looked up I could only see more darkness.  I remember barely having enough space to lift my shoulders to breathe.  I was lonely, tired, and afraid.  I prayed to you.  After all these years I still remember the sudden shift and the crack in the floor of the well, the one that let in the light even deeper than my darkness.

I shared that vision with my friend.  "God's light is deeper than your darkness, my friend."  She breathed in and I could tell the words were like living water for a parched and weary soul.  "You called at the perfect time."  She told me.  Perfect timing, how could I know it was perfect timing?  I didn't but you did.

I recalled once again how good you are to help us in our dark places. We may lose sight of you through fear, doubt, and blindness but you never lose sight of us.  You come, you draw close, you whisper love and all else seems small by comparison.  "Faith is the bridge between us."  You told me this morning even before I crawled out of bed and faith will always lead us home to you.

Good and Gracious God,
we are
but teeny specks
in a
great cosmos;
yet,
you still care
for us.
You minister
to us
bringing hope,
comfort, and peace.
There are
not enough ways
to praise you,
to give thanks.

Love, Andrea