As a surrendered believer in Jesus Christ, we are able to convey our joy to other believers (through speaking ministry, corporate praise, intercessory prayer, comfort, laying on of hands, encouragement, brotherly fellowship of 2-more, and any other way that I don't know) by understanding our roles with the meekness it takes to convey joy.
I've had a high maintenance assignment too.. As you mention, you do learn. The joy part comes in seeing God's contribution.
Having joy in the Lord Who saved Her and was continually revealing Himself to her...
Yes, that! If a person has never experienced God's involvement in another person's life, what a loss! Sometimes, in the current challenges it helps to go back in memory to one of those times. I'm not speaking a foreign language. Honestly. To the heart that is thrashing around in grief, it seems that way. God as the ultimate communicator never misses His mark. He is kind without being weak. He is thorough without being patronizing. And God is delicately, precisely aware of our injuries while getting all the inner places He needs to go.
Sometimes we know the results of our labors. It sounds like at some point, this sister you were ministering to went in a direction where you lost contact. Just know the labor and love were not wasted. Not at all.
Having said that, conveying joy rarely boils down to the delivery of a few words. It sometimes requires discipling outside the comforts of what we're used to. Farine, I've been amazed by your experience in that.
Thank you. It seems to be a sort of dance. The Spirit moves and breathes on a life. There is prompting on our spirits to respond. Sometimes it is just to pray. And then the grief filled person takes in a deep breath.. of love.. of hope. Some awareness stirs. It is at that precise moment when I am most in awe of God. How did He lift up that heart?
For the woman who lost her children after being evacuated from New Orleans, even two weeks separation is 'the valley of the shadow of death'.. it sounds like it went on for much, much longer. I am aware of many situations where the problems run deep.. in a similar sense to the woman you describe. Grief often shuts down someone to hearing the very message that would give them resources. I'm pleased to hear that your sister in the Lord heard you (and others) as she went through the days trying to understand what had happened to her.
Yes, there is joy for the grieving. God's art in the soul is part of it. The promises in the Bible are powerful. To the woman who was evacuated from Katrina and then lost her children, I would say "I'm so sorry." Then, as you mentioned, there are practical ways to participate in her life (without taking over). Somewhere in the days to come after that series of blows would be a path back to wholeness.
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