Good morning…
I find my mind lifting prayers for devastated Dorian victims in The Bahamas and those most vulnerable residents on our eastern shores. As a symbol of silent solidarity, yesterday I wore this necklace, reminding myself, “With God as our glue, we will heal whole together.”
Made with a stone I picked up on a Bahamian beach in 2015, this primitive necklace reminds me of the broken body of Christ depicted in the statue above. As the living, breathing body of Christ on earth, we are pruned back to our core, seeing destructive images and bearing witness to the frightening stories of real people like us facing utter despair.
What do we do when the life we have loved is torn limb to limb? Pain. Loss. Severed to our core. How do we move forward when everything we cherished feels ripped up, torn apart? Sinking deep into oneness with the Spirit in our soul, we quietly ask, “LORD, what is the next loving thing You have created me to do?”
In this silent solitude, prayer is the next loving thing God is drawing me to do. I hear. I respond. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!
All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence (Ephesians 1:18-23, MSG).
As life-giving energy is issued to us, individually and collectively, through the broken body of Christ, God is speaking, acting, and filling everything with His powerful presence. Even in our brokenness, we are in the process of being healed whole. How? When? Really?
Jesus himself said to his perplexed first followers, “It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power and ability when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be My witnesses [to tell people about Me] both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:7-8, AMP).
Empowered by God to do one loving thing after the next loving thing, together we will experience the unstoppable rise of God’s resurrection power. I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth (Exodus 9:16, NIV). May we hold with an open hand our personalized piece of God’s restoration plan, this day and each day, forever. Amen.
…Sue…
