YOUR PAIN IN MY HEART

"One day Jesus was teaching,
and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there.

They had come from every village of Galilee
and from Judea and Jerusalem.

And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick.

Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat

and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.

When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd,

they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat

through the tiles into the middle of the crowd,

right in front of Jesus."

Luke 5:17-19

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STRETCHER BEARERS.

 

That's what they are called. Those wonderful warriors who run to our rescue when the struggles of life become too heavy to bear alone...the ones who metaphorically load our paralyzed selves onto a stretcher and carry our burdens to Jesus on our behalf.

 

I am not ashamed to say...I have taken a ride in that stretcher myself, more than a few times.

 

And I have been honored to help carry the stretcher for others.

  

My friend Karne introduced me to the term and explained it to me this way: We, as Christians, do for each other what Jesus would do if He was on the earth.  We are the vessels through which He provides care.

 

While reading a book that introduced her to the concept, she realized that God had brought us together to act as Stretcher Bearers for each other.

 

It's true.  She has taken my pain into her own heart. I have shed tears for her sorrows. We have helped each other through some tough times. We have borne one another's burdens.

 

Blessed beyond what I deserve, I claim for myself a legion of Stretcher Bearers:  Mom, my husband, my brothers, my sisters-in-law, my brother-in-law, my wonderful friends – y'all know who you are.

 

God gives us who we need and puts us exactly where we are needed. 

Whether we know it or not.

 

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A friend of mine recently lost her son in a sudden and tragic way. I had briefly met him on a few occasions, but his beautiful smile lingered in my memory. He and my youngest son were the same age. His mother and I graduated high school together.

 

My friend and her family are well-loved. They are wonderfully generous, Godly people who make the world a better place just by being in it. The repercussions of such a devastating loss spread far and wide.

 

We all hurt deeply for this precious family.

 

Our paths had not crossed often in the intervening years since high school; we had reconnected on Facebook and I had become a big fan of her witty and positive outlook on life. 

 

But to be honest, our lives did not intertwine closely enough to warrant the depth of sadness I was experiencing for her. My grief was beyond understanding.

 

I know I'm not alone in admitting this, but...I could not stop crying. I grieved endlessly for my friend, for the son of her heart. Tears filled my eyes each time I spoke her name. A heaviness filled my soul.

 

A few days after his memorial services, I literally woke up crying. With my head in my hands, I fervently prayed for God to bring peace to my friend and her family.

 

Later that same day, I was inspired to find her posts on Facebook to be courageously uplifting...full of hope and grace.  Nothing but words of praise to the God of Healing.

 

Though I know her to be a woman of deeply sustaining faith, I couldn't help but wonder...

 

Could God have chosen me to be a Stretcher Bearer for this sweet friend? 

 

Undoubtedly, there were many of us sharing the burden of this broken-hearted mother who had lost her son. All of us faithfully (though unwittingly) allowing God to weave our lives together into a comforting blanket of strength for the journey ahead. Through offerings of casseroles or cards, phone calls and hugs.  Prayers without ceasing.  Grief equal to the loss. God provided.

 

As further evidence that His plan was already in place before I knew what was happening, I recalled the image I posted to my own Facebook page the day I learned of the tragedy:

 

This experience has served to reinforce what I have always known to be true:  When Jesus asks us to “Bear One Another's Burdens”, we should take Him at His Word.  He is asking us to literally transfer the burden off our brothers and sisters and onto ourselves. For it is by enduring their hardship that we make it easier for Jesus to guide them through their oppression.

 

Being a Stretcher Bearer is a physical manifestation of God's second commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves.  To love them just as Jesus loves them.  To be Jesus in our own skin.

He never promised that this life would be easy.  He has always promised to provide what we need to make it through.

What we need is each other. 

 

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To those of you who have carried my stretcher...I love you. I thank you. And I ask you to please stand by   :o)

I will do the same for you. 

Even if it means getting creative, cutting holes in roofs and dropping that stretcher right on top of Jesus' sweet head.

Bam.

Before we know it, our burdens won't seem quite so heavy to bear...