Who Goes Between?

Has your heart been stirred with a longing to help those who are far away and in such heavy need?

 Maybe it's the heartbreaking news coming in from the Texas flooding?

Or maybe it's the concern over those you love who are in difficult places? 

One morning recently, I was overcome by the beauty of the Morning Glories climbing over the bench in our front yard.  As I reviewed all of my photos where I had tried to capture what I felt there, I was disappointed when I saw my shadow smack-dab in the middle of the bench! How could I have missed that?  

But then the Lord opened my eyes to realize that HE had given me a beautiful picture to illustrate the Scripture that had been dwelling in my heart all day.

“May the Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other."  Genesis 31:49

Many have spent beautiful times of fellowship on this very bench:  

my grandchildren and I 

my husband and I

my friends and I

my Mom and I

even my Mom and my Vietnamese daughter-in-law's Mom

I am missing so many of them now.

Oh, yes, I know that my prayers are vital for those I love. But I have so many things I wish I could say, ways I wish I could actually touch each one.  How do we handle that absence? How do we deal with the void we feel when we are separated?

 

In my searching, I found these thoughts in Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 31:49:

"Friends at a distance from each other may take the comfort of this, that when they cannot know or succour one another God watches between them, and has his eye on them both."


And what of the beautiful story of friendship that is shown between Jonathan and David? 

  Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.^{1 Samuel 20:42}

These thoughts again, from Matthew Henry's Commentary found a home within my heart:

 "They referred themselves to the covenant of friendship that was between them, both of them comforting themselves with this in this mournful separation: 'We have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, for ourselves and our heirs, that we and they will be faithful and kind to each other from generation to generation.' Thus, while we are at home in the body and absent from the Lord, this is our comfort, that he has made with us an everlasting covenant."

What will I do with the longings when I want to be with those I love? How can I carry the weights of longing to make things better for those who are in difficulty?

Ah, there is the point of JOY 

coming as I trust. 

In the invisible places,

I see a shadow 

of a PRESENCE

going between.

The Lord dwells

Where I can only long to go.

The Lord blesses

When I can only envision grief.

Every Friendship

Every Relationship

Every Love 

When I call HIM into the center

Will be covered by HIS Shadow.

HE WATCHES BETWEEN YOU AND ME. 

Here is the link to another Faith Blogger who actually is living through the Texas Flooding now, and shares ways to currently help:

Tammy Streeter McDonald, Shifted Vision Ministries 

And, I am excited to be a collaborator with another sweet Faith Blogger as she has opened a Facebook page to answer questions about what Fibromyalgia really is. If you have ever wondered how to explain Fibro, or even what it feels like, please visit her page for some great information that she has pulled together:

Mandy Farmer, Fibromyalgia Is It For Real 

I am linking this week with these great sites:

Barbie Swihart, #Glimpses 
Meg Weyerbacher, #Teaandwordtuesday 
Debbie Kitterman, #Tuneinthursday 

 

The Joy of Consolation

 

 

 

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

Psalm 94:19, NIV 








What do you do when 

your heart trembles

under a load of 

anxiety?

Do you have a word that soothes

or a song that comforts?

I have a treasure chest full

that measures an abundance of 

JOY

just waiting for me.

Sometimes easily forgotten, 

one simple thought

can take me down the path

that will open the vault of memories

stored

with friends of the most

heart-full kind.

There is the friend who 

drove the car while my husband held onto 

our mattress tied to the roof of the car.

Then there is the couple who 

brought 3 pies to our house

and got snowed in at Thanksgiving

so we ate all the pies, the four

of us, in ONE day.

Or maybe I would remember the

friend who eagerly shared my

joy in gardening and donned her

raincoat and boots

just so that we would not miss our

yearly Garden Planting Day.

Ah, yes, another gardening friend

came alongside

for our Secret Gardening Forays

as we transplanted and prettied

up our townhouse complex

together.

But what kinds of friends would

willingly

sign up to portray the cast of

a Gilligan Christmas

put on by the STAFF of your Church?

True friends who know what it means

to love to the full

day in and day out

because 

that's what Jesus calls us to do.

And by the time I've 

walked through the years

back up to the present,

and my heart is looking down 

the trail that is today,

I find a new list of friends.

Ones who have joined me with
Blogging, Facebook, and Emails for

Digital Loving,

a phrase I did not know could exist.

But then,

who would have thought that

mattress chugging,

pie eating,

boot wearing,

shovel bearing,

and 

costume wearing

could be ways to find true consolation

and JOY

from Jesus?

There is no room for anxiety

when my heart is so full

of LOVE like that. 


And so to all of my friends,
both near and far,
And to all of my Loved Ones
who live in my heart,
I am THANKFUL for the gift
of consolation
that Jesus brings through you.



I am linking this week over at these great sites:
#TeaAndWordTuesday, Meg Weyerbacher 
#TellHisStory, Jennifer Dukes Lee 
#LiveFreeThursday, Suzie Eller