Unseen

Morphine did not erase the underlying anxiety from her surgical complication.  I visited my friend in the hospital.  As I sat on the side of her bed, this sweet friend asked me to pray.  I held her hand and asked for the Lord’s presence ultimately.  Beeping sounds and blinking lights don’t make for calmness.  Even the dings of the elevators remind us something’s wrong and we’re not at home.  I hoped for the peace of prayer to ease my friend’s mind, and indeed she said later that she felt the Lord’s peace.  Yet when opening my eyes after our prayer, I noticed someone standing beyond my right shoulder.  A member of the surgical team had been waiting while we prayed.  Her presence was unanticipated by us, yet I was happy she was there for however long.  Then the opportunity to pray broadened to include blessings upon this surgical team member.  The Lord’s orchestration again.  We simply go about living as He teaches, and He handles the connecting of people.  Unseen at first.

Not just paper & ink

Try it.  I just wonder. … It has happened in a McDonald’s.  It’s happened on the city bus.  It happened this week in a public school teacher’s lounge.  Simply an open Bible.  It attracts.  People say, “Are you taking a class?”  “What are you studying?”  “I’ve been meaning to go to church.”  Without an audible word from me, the Bible inspires conversation.  Sometimes I study when I’m waiting for a friend.  Sometimes I read in order for the Lord to calm my unrest.  Consequently He speaks – and to more souls than the one person turning the pages.

Acoustic rehab

We became troubadours.  Strum the guitar here.  Sing a song there.  First in the physical therapy room with a patient who liked rock-n-roll.  Then down the hallway to meet a lady whose friends came to visit, and they all welcomed the music.  A few doors down, another lady was so happy she could hardly wait to tell her family she was personally serenaded in the hospital.  And when we met a lady who spoke mostly Spanish, we were immensely blessed to find in our music bag a copy of “Supe Que Me Amabas,” at which point I knew the Lord had packed our bag that day.  We did meet one lady who could not speak audibly at all, and so we loved her smile all the more.  From “Bless the Broken Road” to “I’ve Got a River of Life.”  From Martina McBride to Todd Agnew to Randy Travis.  The Lord inspired it all.  Isaiah 61 mentions the brokenhearted and the captive.  The Lord sends us to them, and blessings abound.

More than Santa and cascarones

What a privilege.  I met some children who said the word Easter reminded them of eggs and bunnies, especially those eggs we call cascarones that are refilled with surprise confetti.  The occasion was an opportunity to talk about Jesus’ death and resurrection.  More than once, I’ve met children who thought Santa Claus was born at Christmas.  On those occasions, it was an opportunity to tell about Jesus’ birth.  Each was an unexpected conversation that brought the utmost delight. . .  To speak the name of Jesus our Christ is a humble honor.  When my heart flutters to realize an open door for conversation, I silently ask the Lord to lead. . . May you be blessed to seek His pleasures first.