It's been 3 weeks since i fell and smacked my head on the pavement, ensuring a severe concussion, sprained neck, and damage to 2 of the discs in my neck. Three. Weeks. And i ain't much better. Dang freakin' rabbit kids!
If this were the only "pain-in-the-neck" thing in my life right now, i might feel a little better about it. But it aint. So i don't. Dang rabbit kids!
Now here i sit. With scattered thoughts from a hurting brain...and a dizzy head that reminds me to hold still and know that HE is GOD.
And i wonder how i can minister from this broken place. This place of confinement. This place of pain. This place that i would prefer not to be in. This place that sets limits on my time...boundaries on my skills...and restrictions on my energy. This fettered place.
In my mind's eye i drift back to a story in the BIBLE...to another place of confinement...a place of limit...a place of constraint....a prison cell...where 2 Christ followers were thrown. Two friends, that had been beaten bloody and tossed into the darkest of prisons...having their feet fastened into the stocks.
Left in a bloody mess of themselves...i imagine Paul had a concussion...and whiplash....and herniated discs....ALONG with multiple other injuries that he obtained as war wounds for the cause of CHRIST.
As i see their imprisonment....locked up...and bound. I meditate on their pain, and their restrictions, and their confinement....I realize their "ministry" has come to a halt in that damp, dingy jail...................
Or has it?
At midnight these 2 good brothers, deciding they weren't dead yet, and declaring that JESUS is still who HE is... despite their circumstances...chose to do the only 2 things they could do in the midst of their imposed limits.
They could pray...and they could praise........and at midnight...the darkest hour...that is exactly what they did.
And according to the SCRIPTURE (Acts 16:25)...the other prisoners...were listening to them...the other prisoners were listening.
As the other prisoners sat in their chains, in their misery, in their messes, and in their confinement...they heard through the darkness...rising up through the dank walls...prayers to JESUS...from praising hearts.
Brokenness ministered to brokenness that night...pain ministered to pain...confinement ministered to confinement...through the name of JESUS CHRIST......ushered into each individual cell...via the praises of GOD.
The BIBLE goes on to tell us the rest of the story...something amazing that happened that night...as the disciples were praying and praising...and the other prisoners were listening...there was a great shaking...and earthquake...causing the prison doors to fling open...and EVERYONE'S CHAINS FELL OFF!
Not just Paul and Silas's chains......EVERYONE'S chains!........proving to me... that broken people minister to broken people the best.... and chained people understand others chains the most.... and pained people feel the most compassion for human sorrows....
And a prison cell of pain or limit....can't restrict, tie down, confine, or eliminate the power of GOD...unleashed through HIS servants...as they pray and praise!
If this were the only "pain-in-the-neck" thing in my life right now, i might feel a little better about it. But it aint. So i don't. Dang rabbit kids!
Now here i sit. With scattered thoughts from a hurting brain...and a dizzy head that reminds me to hold still and know that HE is GOD.
And i wonder how i can minister from this broken place. This place of confinement. This place of pain. This place that i would prefer not to be in. This place that sets limits on my time...boundaries on my skills...and restrictions on my energy. This fettered place.
In my mind's eye i drift back to a story in the BIBLE...to another place of confinement...a place of limit...a place of constraint....a prison cell...where 2 Christ followers were thrown. Two friends, that had been beaten bloody and tossed into the darkest of prisons...having their feet fastened into the stocks.
Left in a bloody mess of themselves...i imagine Paul had a concussion...and whiplash....and herniated discs....ALONG with multiple other injuries that he obtained as war wounds for the cause of CHRIST.
As i see their imprisonment....locked up...and bound. I meditate on their pain, and their restrictions, and their confinement....I realize their "ministry" has come to a halt in that damp, dingy jail...................
Or has it?
At midnight these 2 good brothers, deciding they weren't dead yet, and declaring that JESUS is still who HE is... despite their circumstances...chose to do the only 2 things they could do in the midst of their imposed limits.
They could pray...and they could praise........and at midnight...the darkest hour...that is exactly what they did.
And according to the SCRIPTURE (Acts 16:25)...the other prisoners...were listening to them...the other prisoners were listening.
As the other prisoners sat in their chains, in their misery, in their messes, and in their confinement...they heard through the darkness...rising up through the dank walls...prayers to JESUS...from praising hearts.
Brokenness ministered to brokenness that night...pain ministered to pain...confinement ministered to confinement...through the name of JESUS CHRIST......ushered into each individual cell...via the praises of GOD.
The BIBLE goes on to tell us the rest of the story...something amazing that happened that night...as the disciples were praying and praising...and the other prisoners were listening...there was a great shaking...and earthquake...causing the prison doors to fling open...and EVERYONE'S CHAINS FELL OFF!
Not just Paul and Silas's chains......EVERYONE'S chains!........proving to me... that broken people minister to broken people the best.... and chained people understand others chains the most.... and pained people feel the most compassion for human sorrows....
And a prison cell of pain or limit....can't restrict, tie down, confine, or eliminate the power of GOD...unleashed through HIS servants...as they pray and praise!