On March 20, 1975, a group of college students from New York visited our dead church in Pennsylvania and shared the gospel through drama and music. I heard the Good News that God sent Jesus to die for my sins, and I remember spending a couple of hours at the altar tearfully repenting of my sins, receiving forgiveness, and starting my new life following Christ. Forty-six years later, it’s hard to put into words how thankful I am that Jesus changed my life. The Holy Spirit has relentlessly pursued me and has been changing every part of my life.
When I look back at my life and see how God has turned around everything that I had backwards and has used it for His glory, it’s hard to put into words how our God transforms and restores life. If we understand that our core problem is that we try to find love and comfort and significance outside of Jesus Christ, then it’s no wonder that we’re so messed up. We seem to turn to anything and everything except Jesus to try to make ourselves feel better. Repenting of our self-serving sins and receiving God’s forgiveness is the only way to find peace and real life. I fought God’s love for decades until I finally surrendered to the perfect love of God that casts out all fear.
If your life has become difficult beyond words and if your prayers seem to bounce off of the sky and hit you back in the face, I’m with you. I minister daily to people who are in so much pain that there are no words to describe the hurt and turmoil. On the one hand, I get to pray with people and engage in a process of watching God heal and transform lives. On the other hand, I journey with people who pray with me, and yet we don’t see, feel, or experience God’s healing and transformation. There are no words except “beyond frustration” when no matter what…nothing seems to help.
While ministering out of the fullness of God’s loving presence and peace, I feel the pain each day of people who cry out to God, and yet they still don’t hear His voice or see Him intervene. I’ve learned to be with people without trying to fix them or to make them feel better. I cry and laugh and pray and play and listen and encourage and share God’s truth, and sometimes I sit with people and just be with them in their pain and problems, waiting for God to do what only He can do: heal and transform lives.
I’m reminded of my grandma who prayed for my grandpa for fifty years before he finally said “yes” to Jesus. It helps me journey with people who are stubborn and for people who are still praying in faith for a miracle. It’s okay to be “beyond words.” You don’t have to always fill the room with words. Most people won’t remember what you say anyway, like today when I went to see a friend who just lost his wife of fifty years. I didn’t have the right words. I just gave him a hug and thanked him for investing in and changing my life. He won’t remember a word that I said, but hugs and being there speak much louder than words.
When your faith is worn out and when you get discouraged, keep opening your life, your arms, your heart, and your home to people. When you run out of words to pray, remember that the Holy Spirit groans within and that Jesus is interceding from above in accordance with God’s will. You may not understand it right now, but God is at work—even if you don’t feel, see, or hear Him working. It’s okay to not be okay, but don’t shut down and try to do life on your own. We are better together, even if we don’t have all of the right words to say. Our words do matter, but I’d much rather have a friend who listens long and well and who prays with and for me and who doesn’t go away. I’m thankful for you and for all that we’ve journeyed through together. In faith I believe that the best is yet to come, for He who began a good work in and through you will be faithful to complete it. Let’s finish well together.
Let’s keep journeying together as we pray for God’s breakthrough and miracle.