He is there. . . . .

As I sit here on a Friday evening and peruse through the abundance of Facebook comments and pictures, I am struck with a thought. . . . again. . . of how each of us live in our own world.

Yes, we live together, and sometimes our lives do intersect at various moments.  But essentially our lives are our own.

Tonight my mom shared with me a tragic event that happened in a community they (my Dad & mom) once served in.  (Stanley Mission Deaths ) Several years ago, God blessed them with the opportunity of ministering to people in Stanley Mission.  This week, Stanley Mission was rocked with the information that 3 of their youths committed suicide.  Two of these little girls (12 and 14) were granddaughters of a woman that my parents had befriended years ago.  This woman had sought out my parents several times, calling our home to find out when “John & Gretha were getting to Saskatchewan”.  This week she found out that 2 of her grand babies died by suicide.  I cannot imagine her grief.

As I contemplated what this dear Native grandmother must be going through, and as I saw the different scenarios being played out on my Facebook screen – a precious daughter of friends dying of cancer, a family enjoying an evening on their acreage, a family divided because of sin that has caused pain, a family connecting from continents apart because of the luxury of the internet, a marriage vow broken, a family grieving the diagnosis of their father. . . . and the list continues -  I wondered how it all played a part in MY life.

Each entity unto its own.  Each desperately trying to conjure up the strength to continue.  Each calling on Jesus to take their pain.  And in these moments of joy and anguish, I again was reminded of the incredible gift that we have been given of being able to talk to our Creator. 

We can go to Him with our joys, our sorrows, our anguish and our elation.  He is waiting for us to come to Him.  And He is waiting for us to come to Him on behalf of those that – for whatever reason – cannot even emit the words to God. 

I was also reminded that so many times we see the façade that people present to the “world”, yet their hearts are breaking.  I see the happy smiles on FB, yet I know the hurts run deep.  I see the family or school pictures and yet I know that beyond the smile, is a sadness or a desperation, or an anguish that is unspoken.  A difficulty unshared. 

And so tonight I encourage you to pray.  Pray for your loved ones close to you.  Pray for those that you know are hurting.  But maybe more importantly, pray for those that don’t appear “to need it”.  Sometimes it’s those happy faces that we see that need prayer the most.

Tonight, I am so grateful for a Father that knows our heart.  That knows the needs of us that cannot be spoken.  I am grateful for a God that has gone ahead and knows precisely what we need.  But more importantly, I am thankful for a God that listens.  That hears the anguished cries of each of our hearts.  And hears the unspoken cries of those of us that don’t have the words to speak.  And also hears the cries of the broken hearted, before we bring it to Him, but also WHEN we bring it to Him.

 

I encourage you that tonight, as you sit in the quiet, or as you lay quietly awaiting sleep, listen to the names God brings to you tonight.  Listen and bring them to God.  You may be the one who is interceding for someone who can’t even speak the words to our Lord.  YOU may be the one who is praying on their behalf. 

What can you do tonight?  Who can you pray for tonight?