"I love you."
"You are beautiful."
"You are forgiven."
"Well done."
Unfortunately, these are words many people do not often hear. Perhaps some never hear them.
This is one reason it is so important to turn to Scripture each day. In addition to the wisdom and guidance found there, our Lord Himself speaks to us about His immense love for us. He draws us closer to His heart—where comfort and joy abound!
This is also why it's important to come together in comunity with other Christians. God loves it when His children encourage one another! I know as a parent, there isn't much that brings me more joy than the times when my children support each other. For example, this past weekend, my five-year-old son, Nick, started flag football and was very scared. He frequently motioned from the sidelines to his fourteen-year-old brother, who then ran over to tell him he was doing a great job. That was all it took. Nick stayed in the game and even managed to have fun.
I recently was blessed to experience the power of fellow Christians speaking Holy Spirit-inspired words into my own life. I was at a beautiful event for renewal and community for Catholics, but I was struggling with feeling locked inside some turbulent emotions that had slowly descended on me throughout the previous month (largely due to the two-year anniversary of losing our daughter Gianna at eighteen-weeks' gestation). There had been grief and hurts and exhaustion, and while I turned to the Lord in prayer, I could not find freedom from their grasp.
I actually was working at the event as a photographer, among other things. I love doing this, but it does prevent me, at times, from entering fully into all aspects of the event. One evening, however, as I approached a group of people who had just been praying over one of its members, they looked at me and said, "Can we pray for you too? You have been busy taking pictures all day! Surely you could use some prayer?"
I was thinking, "Do I ever! You have no idea of the internal struggle I am experiencing, or of how I have been pleading with God to help me let go of this"—but my initial reaction was to decline and back away to some corner in which I wouldn't have to reveal any part of my heart.
Thanks be to God, however, grace prevailed, and I accepted their kind offer. When they asked what I would like prayers for, I didn't know how to put it into words, other than to say, "There is a part of my heart that feels hardened." And they prayed that it would soften and be open to the Lord once again.
Then they placed their hands on me and began to pray. I stood there, not knowing what to expect, but hopeful that the Lord would work through these beautiful souls who were caring for me in this way. After a while, one man spoke words that the Lord had put on his heart for me: "The joy of the Lord is your strength. There is nothing wrong with you. You are beautiful. You are a blessing to so many."
Lord, thank You for this! Truly, you offer us such abundance in everything! While I just wanted to NOT feel my past hurts constricting my heart in a way that felt like I was wearing shoes that fit too tightly—so that, squirm and move about as I might, I just couldn't get comfortable—You went so much further! You removed the constriction and hardness and put in their place JOY, FREEDOM, and CONFIDENCE!
While the person who spoke those words knew nothing of the particular struggles I was facing that weekend, he spoke exactly what I needed to hear. Only God can do that.
Someone also spoke a Word from Scripture over me twenty years ago, at the first prayer event I ever attended. At that time, the words struck me with a similar power; however, their message, while also filled with love, was much different: "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear . . . he who fears is not perfected in love" (1 Jn 4:18).
At that time in my relatively young life, the death of many loved ones, most of whom also had been young, had indeed filled me with fear. And Jesus told me in that moment that He did not desire for me to be afraid. With this new message, "The joy of the Lord is your strength," I felt Him saying that I have grown, and that while the fear may not be completely gone, His joy is also there to shine through it. And that message was a joy indeed!
Our Lord loves us, and He guides us. If we allow Him, He will take us by the hand and lead us to streams of living waters. He will nourish us with His very Self. He will shape our hearts to be like His. We are free to keep our own hearts, but they are narrow, constricted, too-tight, incapable of moving in ways that will bring forth fruit and life. Jesus says, "Apart from me you can do nothing," and He means "nothing" (Jn 15:5). Nothing but hurt and ache for His healing touch, and incapable of offering that healing touch to those so very dear to us, whose hearts are searching for that same love.
Seek Him; He will be found (Mt 7:7). Make yourself vulnerable; if I had not opened myself to the prayers of others, I could not have heard His voice (Heb 4:7). He has a message He wishes to speak to each of our hearts—a custom-crafted message of love from the Lord who so carefully created each one of us. And when you find Him, share that joy with others! Speak the Word they need to hear! "For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!" (1 Cor 9:16)
I can't conclude without sharing this song by Twila Paris, The Joy of the Lord is My Strength.
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