Strong

Our church held its second Hope and Healing Service this morning. This is a service for couples dealing with infertility or loss of a child. It was, once again, strong - from the testimonies to the worship (worship was lead by a super talented lady who had just had another adoption fall through this week) to the prayer from our head pastor to the message of hope and healing from our special guest (Sandra Glahn) to the end of the service (where couples could light a candle and be prayed for by another couple who had been where they were).

This last part of the service was what left the greatest impact/image for me. There were a handful of couples who came to minister to others and pray for them. It's fairly obvious that a prayer from someone who has walked your path simply means more to the hearer than the prayer of some other well-meaning person who has no first-hand knowledge of your pain/thoughts/emotions.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 in The Message says:

All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us.

This was absolutely lived out by some couples in our church today right before my eyes. These couples had been through VERY difficult times and have chosen to re-enter that pain again for the building up of the Body. It would be easier and totally understandable if they had made a choice to not go down that road again - simply keep on moving ahead with their lives. However, to make a conscious effort to put yourself in a place of vulnerability, to relive certain emotions/thoughts/etc, and stand in the gap for someone else is a STRONG choice. I was ministered to by it and I don't have any personally dealings with these issues of infertility and loss. When I thanked one lady for ministering, she said something along the lines of "I'm glad to do it - it's part of my healing - it helps me too." My response was, "I can totally see that, but I know lots of people choose not to look for how they can minister to others when they have pain." It's actually super rare.

I think we are attracted to and in awe of strong people. I'd like to be a strong person like some of those I saw today. I'm just not sure I'm willing to experience the "fellowship of His sufferings" (Philippians 3:10) to achieve that kind of strength.