Saturday, November 12, 2016

Dear God,

In your kind mercy you gave us the gift of laughter.  You gave us the ability to fill our insides with belly-jolting laughter that heals our wounds and saves our souls.

As a covenant group we gathered together for retreat but our spirits were sour, our attitudes angry, and our hearts filled with sorrow.  Like many others, we had walked through an ugly, mean-spirited, and despicable political campaign.  We just could not believe how candidates could rip and tear the very people they had desired to lead as a public servant.  We were not ready to retreat just yet.

Yesterday we spent hours talking, listening for your voice.  We sought to find an answer, a solution to our bitterness, anxiety, and fear.  As a group we kept grasping for your hand to lead us into a new place, ever keeping before us the people that were hurt, disappointed, offended, threatened, and abused by the campaign.  As you led us deeper into faith, our spirits lifted while we continued to pray for those most hard hit by the campaign.

At some point we found our ability to laugh, not at what had happened, but at ourselves and each other.  We laughed all through the evening and picked up right where we left off this morning.  We began to build more trust in you to help us, to lead us, and to show us the way to helping so many to heal.  The laughter had begun our own healing process and we were grateful.

Holy God,
thank you
for your
great compassion.
Thank you
for hope
that always comes
from trust
and faith
in you.
Thank you
for leading us
to you
and to
our wounded brothers
and sisters.

Love always, Andrea