Each week our staff gets together to pray for about ten people/families in the church on Tuesday. We invite the people to either send requests to us or come and pray with us. Today there was a couple who came to pray with us that blew me away.
Once we were all there the wife pulled out a little notebook and said, "I was wondering how we can pray for all of you. I used to go and visit people who couldn't get out and I don't have the energy for that anymore, but I can still pray for people." We proceeded to go around and each share our lives with her for the next twenty minutes. She would ask us questions about the things we shared and took notes to make sure she remembered.
When we finished that it was finally time for the couple to share requests they had. The wife spoke again, she pretty much did all the talking except comic relief.
"Well, you could pray for his health (putting her hand on his shoulder). He's lost all his sight in his left eye and they say he's going to lose it in his right eye too."
At this point the husband chimed in and said, "And I already lost my hair," with a smile.
"He has to have an MRI because he's having inner ear trouble. He blacks out sometimes and can't hear anything. He's having balance problems and they're not able to figure out what is wrong. He has a partially blocked artery. He has a heart murmer but they can't do anything about it because of his other health problems."
She went on to describe at least a dozen problems he was having, all the time both of them smiling. She said they were spending a lot of time at the doctor and he said they call their doctor schedule their social calendar.
They went on to share other very difficult things they were dealing with, things that clearly pained them. But through it all they praised the Lord for his goodness and never seemed defeated. They displayed the joy of the Lord despite circumstances more than anyone I've ever met. They were an example of finishing well and I hope that one day I'll be able to follow in those footsteps.
2 comments:
That is beautiful! I love when I'm given a chance to see a positive example, rather than just thinking "I don't want to be like that when I get older" (with no idea how to avoid it!).
Ready to bring your awesome evangelism to Scotland? Sure you aren't called to St Andrews yet? just checking...
I think I complain too much.
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