Sunday, July 26, 2009

I'm just sitting here in the quiet at the last end of a Sunday evening trying to put words to what I've experienced this weekend. I had the opportunity to go and visit my friend Shiromi in her new home on Friday night. Shiromi and her family came here from Sri Lanka a little over a year ago, and I have had the pleasure of getting to know her since that time. I have watched as she and her family have struggled to adjust to the culture of this new home of theirs called Canada; I have heard the stories of all they gave up in order to come here; I have shared in the tears as they questioned their decision to move here. Was it really God's voice they heard? And I have prayed and believed with them for a miracle that would allow them to finally be able to have a home of their own, and be able to move on from the tiny apartment that they had reduced their life to over the last year. As she took us from room to room in their new home, telling us of the miraculous ways that so many of the things had been provided, I was overwhelmed at the kindness and faithfulness of God. I felt Him there with us; I felt privileged to be able to take part in something so special, so precious. He steals my words away sometimes, so that I cannot adequately express how I feel inside. That was one of those moments.

And then on Saturday night, one of the girls from our home group invited us over to her house for a BBQ. We decided when our group started at the first of the year, that we were going to choose one thing that we each were believing for in our lives, and agree together to pray every time that we got together, and any time in between when God brought it to our minds, and the answers that we have seen have been amazing. These women are very dear friends of mine, but I can feel the covenant between us, which is something so much more.

She had emailed us at the first of the week, and asked us to pray about a certain situation that had arisen, and we each agreed to do so. There is something that happens when God knits your soul together with someone else; their burdens become your burdens, their pain your pain, and their successes and happiness bring a joy to your heart that couldn't really be exceeded if it were your own. Well, as we each arrived at her house, we saw the miracle that she had been praying for taking place right in front of our eyes. We got to see it for ourselves, and it was incredible! I just kept saying "Thank you God, for letting me see that. Thank you for letting me be there."

We were praying one night in our group, and God spoke to us and said "My divine 'Yes' is upon your life, so ask Me again, ask me for your heart's desire because I am saying 'Yes'." I have seen it happen in our group, and in the lives of many others around me over the last while. God is up to something, and the thing that makes makes it even more incredible is that He lets us share our lives with one another. It's hard sometimes to take that next step to a deeper level called "covenant" with someone. It can be uncomfortable sometimes when you discover the imperfections that live below the surface in someone's life, which can so easily be covered on a Sunday morning in church. It takes genuine effort and time to "be there" for someone, when many times it would be so much easier to just not know. And the anguish that you feel when you share in someone else's soul pain can sometimes be overwhelming. But oh the feeling when you get to take part in the answer, in the breakthrough, in the healing, in the miracle...there are no words to describe it, and it makes you fall in love with God all over again, and realize that the cost of being in covenant is so small compared to what you gain because of it.

1 comment:

Bren Graham Thebeau said...

Love this Kel, moving and thought provoking.

Bren