Abide in Me...

On April 6, 2008, I wrote:

It is amazing what happens when we begin to be obedient to what God calls us to do. This has been a busy week in the gratitude department and now I am faced with the task of exactly what God wants me to share.

It amazes me, and I still don’t know why I get so amazed, it’s God’s way, that you can read a piece of scripture time and time again and then one day, you read the same passage you are so familiar with and the words become alive in you in ways they never have before. That happened with me this week with John 15: 1-17. “I am the vine and my Father is the gardener…” I don’t know how many times I have read that this week and I just feel God calling me to absorb it, own it and let it be written on my heart. And for two days, I left the TV off and went about my days as I let the word of God soak into my being.

It hasn’t been an easy week. But it has been a God week. We were so eager for life to get back to some sense of normalcy following the accident and we were so concerned about our son’s mental well-being that we tried to push him to talk about it. And we finally had to let go and give up on it. But this week, he began to ask questions and the answers brought back memories that had been buried…some very painful. A very dear friend who was dealing with her own trauma was having a particularly low week and we talked for hours. And we have faced yet another “loss” in life, as we have known it, as our living situation changed. And then there was the death of a friend…not just any friend but one of those people who were the hands, heart and feet of Jesus when there was no one else around. He was buried just yesterday.

And God said, “Abide in me.” And those words kept lying as a gentle reminder all week. And as I reflected on the conversation with our son, I heard God say, “See, Lynn, my timing is perfect, yours was too quick.” At the end of the week, after daily conversations with my friend, I received the most beautiful e-mail and then a phone call that a breakthrough had come! We laughed and celebrated together and rejoiced at the difference in the beginning and the end of the week! We went to the near-by city and celebrated my sister-in-law’s new home with her as we dealt with our own sadness within and we watched as the movers came and loaded up, what we all thought was going to be a lifetime of sharing life at the farm. And then we left to ready ourselves for the funeral of our friend.

We can find God in the most unexpected places. This friend, on the exterior would not fit into “religion’s” picture of a Christian. Many were offended by his way of telling you what he thought and then some. I liked knowing where I always stood. Many were offended by his language and brash ways. I sometimes cringed but then I also saw beyond that and saw the diamond at the heart of the man. You see, when we were strangers in this town (which we still are), he reached out to us, he made a point to make us feel welcome and a part. When Elliot died, I remember seeing him as we arrived at the cemetery, standing away from the crowd, in a way that forever said, “I’m here for you.” After the funeral, many times he would call and come by, just to see how we were. Our son worked for their family one summer and when he had his accident, although his health did not allow our friend the freedom to get around, he called and he called, to check on him and on us. As we left the church yesterday, our son said, “He even called me when he could barely talk, just to see how I was doing.” That is what he did for us. But there were many who were hungry, he gave food to. There were many who needed a ride, he would transport. He was the kind, when he saw a need, he filled it. No hoop-a-la, no questions, no fanfare. He just did it. He loved God, he loved his church, he loved his family, and he loved people. Yet many stayed away from him because he did let you know where he stood (and then some), his language could be a little rough and his ways a little brash, but those people were the ones who were cheated, because they missed the blessing of seeing the hands and feet…the heart of Jesus in action. We never know where, we never know when, we never know in what form, we may see God revealed.

“Abide in me…” My Father the gardener is still pruning me and it is not a painless process but by abiding in Him, he has given me the gift of revelation along the way that fills me with awe and wonderment and amazement at His abiding love and amazing grace and His most perfect timing. “Abide in me…Abide in me…Abide in me…”

To GOD be the glory!

Lynn