We Grow in Community

James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (ESV).

I just finished having one of the most amazing weekends of my life. I got to have a mini-reunion with several of my former roomies from my Flower Mound house. I was struck by the ease at which we moved from laughter to deep sharing and finally to prayer. There really is something divinely built about being in community. We are so wired in this society to feel that we have to face things alone. The strength of the individual is so exalted, that we really do place an expectation on ourselves to handle our struggles alone. But something really does happen when we practice sharing our struggles and asking others to bear our burden with us.  As someone who has just been freshly reminded of how freeing this is, I just want to say risk it and share yourself. If you aren't in community, ask God to give it to you and go seek it out. God's provision for you today is in community. Who are the people with whom God has surrounded you?  Let them be His hands and feet to you. There is healing to be found. You are not alone.

The token of His affection

This may not be earth-shattering to anyone else, but it rocked my world a little tonight. Do you have a stone of remembrance? I mean something God does that might be small or insignificant to others that rocks your world? I know I'm speaking too metaphorically still. Do you remember the story in the Old Testament when Israel first crossed the Jordan into the promised land? God had the priest begin walking into the raging river Jordan, holding the art of the covenant. The amazing thing is, the minute their feet touched the bottom of the river bed, the waters on either side "stood up in a heap" the Bible says. Yes, just like the Red Sea. And all of Israel crossed over. As soon as they had crossed, God told them to go gather from the bottom of the river bed some stones. Stone of remembrance. To never forget the miracle of God's presence that day.

Ok, here's mine as silly as it sounds. I have a bottom retainer I have had since high school. For some reason my bottom front teeth seem to keep moving out of place if I don't wear it, and so here I am 30 years later, at night wearing the dumb thing. But since I have had it, I can't tell you how many times I have lost this stupid little retainer. It costs 500 dollars and it's such a small thing to spend so much!! The first time I lost it, it was in the backyard. It was missing for a month and I was desperate. We finally found it in the backyard. Somehow it had survived both the dogs and the lawnmower. It was missing a very small piece of plastic in the back, but overall it was in great shape. I couldn't believe I found it in the backyard.

Tonight, years later it had been missing again, and once again, I had asked the Lord if He would graciously let me find it,  just as a sign that He has His eye on me. Do you know He let me find it? Once again, He didn't have to. I certainly didn't deserve this little token of His affection for me. But for some reason He seems to keep delighting in giving it back to me. Maybe its because its speaks to me of His attentive care, that He would bother Himself to show me again where it is. I mean isn't that the difference between those we know intimately, and those who are in our outer circle? It's when we love someone closely, that we are involved in the details of their lives, because they matter to us. It's hard for me to fathom that I matter that much to God. But I do. And for some strange reason He is pleased to use this silly little piece of plastic and my prayers to find it, to remind me year after year, that His lovingkindness reaches to the skies.
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me:)

Go Ahead and Ask

Recently my husband has lost a  bunch of weight. So yesterday Mike tells me with a heavy heart that his wedding ring fell off his finger at some point in the day. He had retraced his steps and couldn't find it anywhere.  I asked him if we could pray to find it. So we did. And then I went out the garage and in the driveway and every other place I could think of. No ring. Privately I told the Lord it would really mean a lot to me if He would let Mike find it because I knew it would really speak to Mike in a special way, for the Lord to answer such a small prayer that matters so much to us.

I hoped in my heart the Lord would answer me as He has so mercifully in so many other ways. Yesterday, no ring. Today, no ring. I have to be honest, when it didn't show up right away yesterday I started giving myself the mental out, and Mike too. I told him not to worry if we couldn't find it we would just go back to the jewelers and replace it, no big deal. But in my heart I hoped. Hoped that God would once again answer my prayer. For some reason when He does that for me, it speaks to me. I guess because its an amazing thought to know that the God of the Universe, who knows all things, knows where it is. You see to me, its in these moments that I realize the vast chasm between Christianity and other religions.

Because I don't merely seek a state of peaceful being, worship a lofty God not to be bothered with such trivialities, or simply ponder the wisdom of timeless truth; I worship an all knowing, all powerful God who is personal. So personal that such a prayer isn't scorned by Him. Tonight as I was washing the dishes (yes it means the dishes had been in the sink since yesterday) and finally got to the bottom of them, there it was. Mike's ring.  He didn't have to. He would still be good and still be God if He hadn't said yes. But He delights to answer. He delights in our asking Him. That ring, the symbol of our covenant is also a symbol of God's covenant love to us. He sustains our promise with His;  "In Him all thing hold together." Col. 1.

I love that God speaks to me with such symbolism. I can't even keep up with the symbol of my covenant. But He can. He can keep the symbol and the substance of my covenant. So--go ahead and ask. God's greatness will be manifested in just how much He will show you that He can do "exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think..." Deuteronomy 33:26 says, "There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your help, and through the skies in His majesty. The eternal God is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms;" I love knowing that in all things and in every season I am both fully known and firmly held in those everlasting arms.