“I miss my mama. I have no one praying for me anymore,” I thought. “God, would you lay me on some prayer warrior’s heart?”
The self-pitying part of that thought wasn’t true. For starters, my husband prays for me daily. But his prayers didn’t cross my mind as I sat in the shade of depression and oppression. In that moment, I felt totally alone in the world. I felt orphaned. Not at all what I am as a child of God. With my emotions more real than the truth, I sensed the unvocalized utterance. It hung there, an unspoken yearning in my heart that clung to something beyond the self-pity. Desperation mingled with the poor-me deception, and God heard my soul request. He saw my desire to rise from the shadows and my ineffective efforts to do so on my own. Seeing past my emotions to the real me, He answered the prayer suspended within my heart and in doing so, gave me a clear view of how His Body is supposed to function in the earth.
Shortly after my “heart murmur,” several out-of-the-ordinary things occurred. A prayer warrior called to say she had me on her mind and was praying for me. It took a few hours before it dawned on me that I’d had a direct answer from the Lord. He’d looked into my ache and saw my soul prayer instead of the lies that accompanied it. And He didn’t stop with one phone call. His quest to show me the thoroughness of His attentiveness continued. That day, and the next, and the next, I received several unexpected visits and texts from church members. A Thinking of You card showed up in the mail. At church, the preaching spoke directly to me, and friends prayed and worshipped with me around the altar. A couple invited my husband and me out to eat, and the fellowship was as sweet as dessert. A friend showed up to walk, and our walking turned into a talk I really needed. Through each of these encounters, God revealed how personal He was by being HIMSELF through His people. Layer upon layer, He ministered healing to me as each of His children did their part in response to His prompting.
Through the ministry of His Body, my head cleared, and I was able to see what I’d been temporarily blinded to: God is always working to supply my needs. Through my husband’s faithful prayers and devotion, my neighbors' friendships and Bible discussions, and regular communication and fellowship with godly friends, God steadily ministers to me. He daily provides me with spiritual maintenance and bountiful blessing. I’d taken these things for granted. In my weariness and overwhelm, in my focus on the stresses of life, I had lost sight my Lord's steadfast demonstration of love to me. So, He gave me another caress, reminding me of how beautifully He works through His human hands.
Tip/Tidbit: Take a minute to consider the blessings God is presently pouring into your life through His people. Then, seek to be His voice, His hands, His ears…to be HIM… to someone else today.
The self-pitying part of that thought wasn’t true. For starters, my husband prays for me daily. But his prayers didn’t cross my mind as I sat in the shade of depression and oppression. In that moment, I felt totally alone in the world. I felt orphaned. Not at all what I am as a child of God. With my emotions more real than the truth, I sensed the unvocalized utterance. It hung there, an unspoken yearning in my heart that clung to something beyond the self-pity. Desperation mingled with the poor-me deception, and God heard my soul request. He saw my desire to rise from the shadows and my ineffective efforts to do so on my own. Seeing past my emotions to the real me, He answered the prayer suspended within my heart and in doing so, gave me a clear view of how His Body is supposed to function in the earth.
Shortly after my “heart murmur,” several out-of-the-ordinary things occurred. A prayer warrior called to say she had me on her mind and was praying for me. It took a few hours before it dawned on me that I’d had a direct answer from the Lord. He’d looked into my ache and saw my soul prayer instead of the lies that accompanied it. And He didn’t stop with one phone call. His quest to show me the thoroughness of His attentiveness continued. That day, and the next, and the next, I received several unexpected visits and texts from church members. A Thinking of You card showed up in the mail. At church, the preaching spoke directly to me, and friends prayed and worshipped with me around the altar. A couple invited my husband and me out to eat, and the fellowship was as sweet as dessert. A friend showed up to walk, and our walking turned into a talk I really needed. Through each of these encounters, God revealed how personal He was by being HIMSELF through His people. Layer upon layer, He ministered healing to me as each of His children did their part in response to His prompting.
Through the ministry of His Body, my head cleared, and I was able to see what I’d been temporarily blinded to: God is always working to supply my needs. Through my husband’s faithful prayers and devotion, my neighbors' friendships and Bible discussions, and regular communication and fellowship with godly friends, God steadily ministers to me. He daily provides me with spiritual maintenance and bountiful blessing. I’d taken these things for granted. In my weariness and overwhelm, in my focus on the stresses of life, I had lost sight my Lord's steadfast demonstration of love to me. So, He gave me another caress, reminding me of how beautifully He works through His human hands.
Tip/Tidbit: Take a minute to consider the blessings God is presently pouring into your life through His people. Then, seek to be His voice, His hands, His ears…to be HIM… to someone else today.
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