Healing

The phrase Mourning into Dancing came to me more than ten years ago at what must have been the lowest point in my life. I was completely broken, my whole world had just blown apart. It has been the phrase that signifies God's promise to me: I will heal. I will restore. I will bring joy. I will replace those tears with laughter once again. Through this healing process, I have had the opportunity to learn more of who God is and also more about who I am.

So many times I have been tempted to place all of my focus on 'me'. My pain. My struggle. My healing. While I believe there is a time for focusing inward and working on the issues, I am convinced that healing comes in greater measure when we look beyond ourselves.

Listen to the words of Isaiah 58:
6 Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not turn away from your own flesh and blood?8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.11 The LORD will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

YOUR HEALING WILL QUICKLY APPEAR.

This is why on this blog you sometimes find stories that go beyond myself. Stories of the poor, the widow and the orphan - places I've found myself over the years, looking past my own brokenness and standing in the middle of someone else's pain. This is where my heart is. Positioned in the midst of broken humanity - whether it is in a developing country or downtown. My prayer is that in the middle of life's busy-ness, God will arrest my attention to see the world around me through His eyes.

My 40 Widows

My beautiful grandma now dancing with Jesus

At the end of 2007 I found myself in a place I never wanted to return to: working in a personal care home. I went from working with high school students in developing countries to working with a unit full of seniors. Really old ones! I was feeling quite sorry for myself. (I still have a few of those moments!) One day as I found myself lamenting, yes even complaining, to God over this 'horrible situation' I now found myself in, I reminded Him of James 1:27 - Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

I was all for looking after orphans and widows in the normal places where you would find orphans and widows. I know that one day I will find myself rescuing orphans. However, I failed to see the truth of the matter. In this season, God has entrusted me with forty of His precious widows right here in Canada. These are truly forgotten ones. Many of them have no family and are completely alone in the world. Many more have family who for one reason or another choose not to visit them. They cry out for the son or daughter who never comes.

What is my assignment? To place respect, honour and dignity upon each and every one them. To advocate on their behalf when they have no voice. To protect them from harm. To hold their hands when they are afraid or lonely. To laugh with them. To cry with them. To make sure they are not alone when life on earth comes to an end. To give them what may be their one last chance to know Jesus. In the everyday reality of it all, it's often frustrating and seemingly thankless. Dementia steals their personality and sometimes you have to look really hard to see the person that used to be. Pain - physical or emotional - can make them lash out and all of a sudden they are labelled as 'difficult'. Some days I feel like nothing more than a medicine dispenser. Most of my day is filled with the mundane - pills, pills and more pills, pureed food, spills on the floor, the same questions over and over again and the never-ending pile of paperwork.

In this season may I never take my God-assignment lightly. May I bestow dignity and honour on those society has hidden away and forgotten about. May I look beyond the mundane to see that which is sacred.