The rain has let up for a few days here in Ft. Worth and the full sun peeked out today for more than a few minutes for the first time is several days. It felt good.
What didn’t feel good today was the hurt that I witnessed and to which I am privy. Brokenness on some very deep levels, way down in the depths of the hearts of good folks.
One of my customers today came in to pay her storage bill, although she couldn’t remember the cube number or the name under which her daughter had rented it. Well, without that information I wasn’t able to be of much help, so she called her estranged daughter, who had initially rented it for her. The side of the conversation I heard was laced with cursing as it was obvious that the daughter refused to give the information her mother needed to access the cube that held her belongings. It broke my heart that someone could be so spiteful as to not give out some simple information that would help a loved one. Fortunately, there was an open door, I asked permission to pray for the mom sitting in front of my desk and she wholeheartedly agreed. As I prayed peace over the situation she broke down. In the midst of that brokenness, God was able to touch this mom, even if only for a moment.
I am aware of some dear friends battling for the heart of one of their children. It’s an ugly fight and the devil isn’t playing fair. They have a battalion of prayer warriors lifting them up daily and sometimes moment-by-moment, but the devil keeps swinging and sometimes lands some pretty solid body blows. I reminded my friend today that it isn’t about how many times the devil knocks us down. It’s about how many times we get back up. And KEEP getting back up.
I have another dear friend who is battling leukemia WAY sooner than anyone should EVER have to battle it. After the first round of chemo the news wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. The “belly bully,” as he calls it, hasn’t shrunk but it hasn’t got bigger. So we keep fighting.
I pondered these things all afternoon and at the end of the day, literally and not figuratively, I came to the same conclusion as did the Psalmist when he said,
“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.” (27:13)
Be faithful, my friends.
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