A few days ago I wrote about yo-yo’s, and how unfortunately my emotions appear to be just like one sometimes. But today I have to reflect on precious friends – brothers and sisters in Christ – who through prayer helped me get the string back up on my yo-yo once again.
Going back to our son Jeffrey’s Christmas visit, I have to admit it’s very difficult for me to watch him struggle so much just trying to do ordinary day-to-day things. Things most of us just take for granted, such as getting up out of bed or putting on a t-shirt. He can’t do these things, and it breaks my heart, and I want to help him so much.
But sometimes we just don’t know what to do. And sometimes we just can’t make it better. It doesn’t matter if your loved one is disabled or not. Sometimes we’re just stuck, and our hearts break.
But our Lord Jesus knew all about heart-break, didn’t He? Isaiah 53:3 (NIV) says that He was “despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering… he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Matthew 8:20 tells us that Jesus did not even have a real home.
So Jesus knows exactly what’s going on in our lives, and is ready to send comfort, whenever we need it. One of the ways He comforts us is to bring us friends to lift up our needs in prayer.
In my previous post Up & Down and Up & Down I mentioned that when his caregivers recently brought him to the airport in Phoenix for his flight to visit us, the airline decided that he could no longer fly alone. This was very disheartening for us all – Jeffrey has always enjoyed flying so much, and loved to fly alone. He’s always enjoyed getting to the airport and whizzing around the terminal in his power chair, and has independently requested wheelchair assistance in getting onto the airplane.
Now that appeared to be over, and we were all in a quandary as to how we were to get him back to Phoenix.
But God…
Through the week that Jeffrey was here we asked for prayer from many friends about the whole situation, and as the week progressed I began to feel the “peace of God, which transcends all understanding” (Phil. 4:7) flow in through my jumbled thoughts. Should we just take him to the airport as usual and trust that they will let him board the plane alone?
My husband, at first, was unsure if that was the wise thing to do, so I began to pray that the Lord would confirm in his heart the same thing that I had been feeling if indeed that was what we were supposed to do. I also again requested many of my friends to keep us in prayer as we were having to make some tough decisions.
The days ticked by, and suddenly we needed to take him back to the airport for his flight home. We decided to just go to the airport and see what God would do.
We accompanied Jeffrey – he got checked in, and made his way to the terminal. No problem! They welcomed him warmly and away he went, flying back to his home in Arizona – alone!
As brothers and sisters in Christ we need each other. We need to be praying for each other when we are hurting, and we need to praise the Lord together for our victories.
I had many a sweet friend let me know that there were many times this past week where the Lord specifically brought me and my family to their minds. And they prayed. I felt those prayers, because on more than one occasion I really felt like I was going to have a nervous breakdown because of some of the things that went on. Yet then I would start to feel strength come back to me – I need to keep going!
Yes, there are a lot of things that we are still dealing with, but with God we need to just keep going forward, step-by-step. And we need to praise Him, and thank Him continually for always being with us, and for sending us friends. To Him be the glory forever!
The God Of All Comfort 