My husband called me on his lunch hour today. No particular reason, though I think he was just checking on me. The tears have been coming easily and there are moments I feel like the world is in the toilet even though I am blessed. Really.

In my quiet moments with the Lord, He has been drawing me to passages like Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4, concerning Christ’s Church and how we are to serve using the gifts He has given us.

1 Corinthians 12:25 says that God designed the church body to have no divisions and to have equal concern for each other.

^26″ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”

So many precious people who are part of the Church are suffering right now. It is always this way, but today they are people I know and love. One is fighting for her life in Guatemala as a result of a freakish accident, and her family is fighting beside her. Others here in the states are fighting for limb, for family, and for sanity, all in circumstances that make one ask, “What is happening?”

My heart hurts for them because when one part of this church suffers, every part suffers with it. So I pray, moment by moment, remembering that heaven may be years away, days away, or for some it may be a breath away. This world is just a waiting room for the next. It’s a place where souls are birthed into God’s kingdom, or they are miscarried because they never knew the gospel or were not willing to receive it. I think back to how Jesus stood outside Lazarus’s tomb and wept even though He knew God had given him authority to raise him from the dead. In our desperation and our pain, God cries with us. Psalm 56 tells us that God puts all of our tears in a bottle… He cares for what burdens us.

Will you pray with me today?

Lord,

Thank you for coming into this world to reach us. You came for all of us: the injured, the sick, the hurting and the lost to rescue, heal and restore. We are so aware of those in need today, God. We have been touched by them, and we know your grace, and so we are crying out on their behalf and asking you to work in their lives, their relationships and their bodies. You know their needs. You love them even more than we do, and when we hurt you hurt with us. Thank you for your love and mercy. Help us to receive it, and help us to give it to others. In Jesus name, Amen

Image by chulmin park from Pixabay