Up before the crack of dawn, I sit at my dining room table with a heavy heart.....a mother's heart, heavy laden with sorrow for the changes life has brought her child. I longingly look over at the photo on the table......the one that has been sitting there since 2006 when we took a family trip together and lined up before dinner to have a quick photo shoot.
I look at the photo with an ache of wanting the past to be now...wanting to have those kids near again. I almost feel their hands upon me as I gaze at the picture...I almost hear their joy over the ticking of the clock above my head. Oh, to have my hand upon that son again....holding him steady and keeping him safe.
I pray and pray for all things bad to be brought to good.....the way God promises. I pray and pray for the strength to endure the process. I pray for wisdom to know how to take the next step and for faith to trust my feet to move in those steps....because sometimes I can become downright paralyzed with fear.
The Bible verse for the day pops up on my cellphone...."Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective". James 5:16 Suddenly there is a spark of hope that ignites from deep within my heart, because even in my "paralysis", there is always a prayer, and accompanying that prayer are countless other prayers from all around. Faithful friends and family pour out their hearts in prayer and in a powerful swirl, they ascend and are heard by the ear of God. Like a single breath in the atmosphere of a million breaths, our prayers join and become part of the huge and powerful plea for help in this very lost world.
I glance at the photo again, and this time I see it all-together differently. Instead of longing and sorrow, I have hope as I see the laying of the hands.
As my dear friend endured cancer, we had several opportunities to pray for her....and when there were too many hands to all be able to touch her, we would lay our hands on the person next to us, and that person would touch the person next to them until all hands led to the one being prayed over. There is power in the joining of hands and hearts and whispers of prayer....there is healing and restoration that happens when we all come together on the behalf of one another. And I, for the first time, notice the laying of the hands on my son in that photo.
Profound....it is absolutely profound how God can use something like that to give a mama hope. But the realization of how one single prayer can make a difference just knocked me off my chair and on to my knees......and I thanked God for all of the people in my life that offer up their pleas to God on my behalf......on my family's behalf......and on my child's behalf......because those prayers are the "laying of the hands" upon the very ones that need healed.......and isn't that each one of us? We all need the healing hand of God upon us, and through fervent prayers offered up, we can petition for one another in a chorus of hope, knowing that our gracious God hears and will answer in His own way. That gives me peace. And I am grateful beyond words.
