Friday, December 05, 2008

Lana


Every time we do tour debriefing I'm reminded of so many ways the Lord is ministering TO us as wellas through us. I guess that's a good thing right....since that's the whole point to debriefing.

We just got back from 5 weeks of driving from Willmar to Seattle and everywhere in between. We played in prisons, detention centers, recovery houses, colleges, and churches. And we met HUNDREDS of wonderful people. The north west is full of generosity. We had the joy of staying with amazing people everywhere we went. Praise the Lord!

One lady that Sara and I got to stay with was Lana. She was....ahhh, I can't even explain it, she was just incredible. She kept talking about how impressed she was with us and how their church was so blessed to have us there, but she had no idea how much of a blessing SHE was to US. I had the opportunity to talk with her for a few hours on the last night we stayed with her and she shared with me a lot of her story. She has suffered the loss of a 7 month old son, a broken relationship with her mother, two abusive marriages and the death of the one man who ever really loved her well. She told me how she grew up in a very traditional Catholic church and dealt with resentment toward God for years and years. But...through all her trials the Lord led her to His peace and His safety and His faithfulness.

You should see her light up when she talks about her savior. She starts to tear up every time she mentions His name. It's beautiful, it really is.

Lana has many many stories of how the Lord used her to minister to people at the most unexpected times. One time she was in Wal-Mart, in the check out line behind a mother who had a severely autistic child in her cart. The child was fussing and making a scene, causing everyone around them to look at the mother with disgust and resentment, as if to say, "can't you control your child? You're impossible!" The mother looked back at Lana and apologized profusely, "I'm so sorry...I really am sorry, this is so embarrassing".

This apology was completely unnecessary for Lana, "Honey," she said, "don't you apologize. This is the child God gave you, and he is precious. You do the best you can, and you love him well ok". And then she laid hands on the mother and prayed for her and her son. With tear-filled eyes the mother responded, "NO one has ever done that for me before. Thank you".

It was so humbling to hear that story because in my heart I knew that I currently do not have the courage or faithfulness that Lana has to do even that one simple thing. And I realized that there is so much good that can be done in this life if we are intentional with it. I want the Lord to be able to use me in every situation. I want to be obedient to Him and not worry about what people might say or think.

It's not that I need to necessarily have a plan for every second of my day, I think it's more just being available to God.

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