Three meaningful experiences this week, each an earthly example of Romans 8:28.
1) my son's friend was hospitalized with a life-threatening brain infection. Very rare, very sudden, very scary. He was taken to the ER; flown to a children's medical center 200 miles away for specialized care; he will spend at least 3 more weeks in the hospital. Immediately the texts and facebook posts and prayer chains went out - he was in bad shape and if he recovered, would likely have mild to severe brain damage. That was less than one week ago and today that bright 13-year-old is asking his middle school friends to visit, working a Rubik's cube, and reciting European state capitals. According to his mom, the doctors are astounded at his recovery and his seemingly normal cognitive abilities. The power of prayer, people. I'm telling you it works! Healing is underway.
2) The shooting in Charleston. At church. During a Bible study. The loss of such Godly, kind and accepting people (they welcomed the shooter, a stranger, into their group for an hour before the killing began) is too much to bear. Yet there they were - the people of Charleston - arm in arm outside that same church singing and praying and grieving together, taking an evil act and transforming it into something good - people united in praise, and their desire to see love conquer evil. This weekend I got to visit the federal memorial at the site of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. The memorial grants an amazing and powerful experience. I was struck by the different elements of remembrance and hope; grief and healing. Most interesting to me was the entrance gate is marked "9:01" signifying the time of morning in which all was still normal. Then you enter the very beautiful and solemn memorial park - and learn that the bomb went off at 9:02. At the other end, a gate is etched "9:03" to signify the moment that "healing began." Wow. Immediately, people rushed in to help the survivors and the fallen. Healing began. Charleston seems much the same way - those families are in deep grief, but almost immediately, the community came together and - healing began.
3) The third experience was via the James Taylor channel, playing on XM radio. Can you say yay?? I loved the Billy Joel channel last fall and now I'm reliving so many memories with JT. I am a huge James Taylor fan - my memories of him begin early with my dad's 8-track player - I vividly remember the cover art (were those stickers??) on the 8-track of "Sweet Baby James." They continued through apparently college, because a later James Taylor song called "Never Die Young" came on and I was literally transported back in time! (I've since looked it up and the album was released in 1988). The words came to me immediately and I sang along, trying to place the feelings that the song stirred. Oh yes, I remember... young love. I could picture that young sweet couple he was singing about, and my dreams of being half of such a couple. It's about a boy and girl who were "glued together body and soul" despite a small town's cynicism and opinions that it couldn't last. I've now played this song about 20 times since I rediscovered it and it alternately brings tears (for dreams unrealized) and a smile at the innocence with which I used to dream and sing. I am at a crossroads in my marriage - deciding whether to trust God and perhaps find that healing can begin. If I can see Romans 8:28 (And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him) in my son's friend, and in Oklahoma City, and in Charleston, can I see it for myself? More importantly, for my husband? Will we will commit and work hard and discover a "love that we never could have dreamed of" - that it truly can be better and wonderful - or throw in the towel and find a different, easier path? To be determined. But maybe it's time to put a time stamp on the destruction and hurt, and believe that the time for healing is here.
Romans 8:28 is working in my heart and it's visible through my experiences this week. Let's see where God takes it.
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