entering in
It’s easy to walk down the street, pass by houses and people, having no idea the story going on inside each one. It’s also easy to be okay with that. We can go on with our lives unchanged. But once you enter in and learn the story it’s hard to forget.
I want to take you inside such a house.
This past week I visited the home of a lady that I know I have seen before walking the streets. However, I had no idea of the pain inside. The first thing I notice when I walk in the door is another woman lying in bed, obviously sick. We learn she is the daughter. She is so skinny you can see her bones as well as lumps from the cancer she is suffering with. There is a bag of urine and you can smell the stench in the house. After sitting down we begin to talk.
The pain and suffering of both mother and daughter is obvious, but both of a very different kind. While the daughter is suffering extreme physical pain I can see the mother is suffering spiritually and emotionally. At first she doesn’t want to talk, but with patience and loving words from Tita, soon opens up and spills her pain. Through tears she shares her story. Although it was hard for me to decipher her Spanish through the tears I could understand that she was sharing feelings of guilt and shame and the pain she has experienced in her life.
After listening we took turns reading Scriptures that God put on our hearts, worshipped together in song, and spoke prayers to God. The more we read, sang, and prayed the more I felt the atmosphere in the room change. After a few songs the lady began to join in the singing. I could see and feel the Spirit’s presence and power in that room. His Word was living and active bringing hope and healing in spite of the pain.
I wish I could say that because of our time the pain and suffering were removed. However, that is untrue. The woman was still in bed just as sick with the cancer. There are still emotional scars that need to be healed. What did happen is that hope entered in. And hope changes things.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” 1 Corinthians 1:3-5
This is beautiful, Dan. Simply beautiful. Hope in the midst of pain.