You never know...

...who your words will touch. Last week I was at dinner with a random smattering of people. After we ate, a group of us were sitting around the dinner table joking and talking about the trivial things of life. I was talking with a friend at the table when we realized the conversation had turned serious. Someone had asked, "What is the Lord teaching you right now?" We started sharing what it was we were learning...a close friend shared, a person I had just met that night shared, a friend shared...and then a guy I barely know added on to what the last person had shared. It was meant to be an encouragement to that person...and yet it spoke to me in ways I cannot totally put into words. He shared that as we read Isaiah 52/53 about the suffering servant we can get so focused on the fact that Jesus died for our sins that we overlook something else in the passage...


"He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed."
         Isaiah 53:3-5

This person shared how he had seen the Lord carry HIS grief and I was humbled by the fact that the Lord carried the burden of MY grief and my sorrows. He died for my sin. That alone would be more than I could ever deserve. But he also took my grief and my sorrow to the cross.


In the moments when grief creeps in, Jesus is there. In the moments where it feels like life should not go on, Jesus is there. All the while He whispers that we need not dwell in grief, for He has taken those emotions and nailed them to the cross. He has triumphed over them.


The day after the words were spoken I was caught up in a moment of great grief, but in that moment the Lord reminded me of the guy's words. He whispered to me and amazingly I heard. Did it change my situation? No. Did it make everything right in the world? No. Did it comfort me? Resoundingly YES. Did it remind me that Jesus has my back? Resoundingly YES.


Fast forward a few more days. I was sharing all of this with a close friend. Come to find out the guy who shared this encouragement experienced his mom dying just a few short years ago. He's my age and has two younger siblings. He has walked through a deeper grief than I have ever known. Just two years later he shared this beautiful lesson with someone he hardly knew and changed my perspective on grief.


You just never know who your words will touch.

Friends...

Balboa Reunion 2009

When we honestly ask ourselves which people in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.
~Henri Nouwen

Lord help us to be those friends!