Forgive me, dear friends and followers - my words are still quite unsure. I would like to venture to comment on a few from my new hero - Corrie ten Boom. I just finished The Hiding Place and absolutely devoured every letter! So much of it is indeed PRECIOUS, and worth repeating. I'd love to share with you a few posts about how some quotes of the book struck me (yes, just as punches or whips might), drew my spirit forth in expectancy, and even tenderly cradled my messy heart. It touched me like a heavy, angora quilt. I actually forgot that words on a page could do that to me so thoroughly.
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For the first one I'll set the scene with this: at the end of WWI Corrie's beloved mother suffered a stroke that left her paralyzed and without speech. The rest of her family adjusted accordingly, but her mother's far-reaching ministry of love to the town needed to be altered as well...
"It was astonishing, really, the quality of life she was able to lead in that crippled body, and watching her during the three years of her paralysis, I made another discovery about love.
Mama's love had always been the kind that acted itself out with soup pot and sewing basket. But now that these things were taken away, the love seemed as whole as before. She sat in her chair at the window and loved us. She loved the people she saw in the street - and beyond: her love took in the city, the land of Holland, and the world. And so I learned that love is larger than the walls that shut it in."
And now I'm crying again as I type...mourning the walls I've built to shut myself in, and realizing that love is larger, and refuses to be contained.
This morning I met with a new dear friend who has suffered much pain to her body and soul, but God asked me to love her. Honestly I didn't know if I could do it. Part of me screamed "Cancel! You're not ready! Still too broken!" And thankfully I didn't listen. For under her pain is joy overflowing from a renewed commitment to Christ. Joy I needed. You see, for fear of being used up, I've resisted being used at all. And what a trick of the enemy! I poured into her the Gospel and grace and truth and wisdom and marriage advice and so much more and - Surprise! - I still had more to give. Jesus, my Portion, had shown Himself enough for me once again. My love was even larger than I knew, and much larger than the walls I attempted to build to shut it in.
Not many people are so bold as to ask me for an appointment. I don't know why - I like to think of myself as approachable. I think they just assume I'm "busy." And while I am, I'm also never too busy to love someone. I'm really so very happy for her boldness.
One day I'd like to emulate Corrie's Mama (lol - I guess I'm already Kori's Mama). I'd like to love regardless. Love beyond walls, past boundaries, and outside of limits. Sort of like our Lord does...
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