A friend received some shocking news recently.  Her ex husband, who had been imprisoned for some serious crimes against her, was released without her knowledge a year or 2 before he was due to be released.  The history was nasty and not something I will cover here, suffice to say, when she received the news she went into serious shock at the news.

This girl became a friend through an activity that our children shared a few years ago.  She had been a person I had felt to stop and pray for about 3 years ago, as I went about my day.  God had shown up powerfully for her in the foyer of this place, and after the encounter with a loving God she sought me out and asked if she could come to my home to be prayed for again.  I agreed, and so a pattern was established that she would seek me out for prayer, especially when she was struggling.  She got a taste of a good God, and she wanted more …

Over the years we have prayed about her work, her children, her future, her fears and her hopes.  Healing has come for her, and she has seen God come through for her and her girls time and again … maybe not in her timing … but always His timing has been … perfect!

Each time we prayed God has encouraged her, loved her and wooed her closer.  She would visit my home for about an hour, and she would leave at peace and empowered with a “now word” from God to give her a future and a hope, all the while I encouraged her to read particular scriptures, to seek God’s face for herself, knowing that she also had direct access, that I was not the answer, just merely a messenger, a teacher and a sign post to Him.

By her second or third visit she gave her heart to Jesus and she had started to seek His face for herself in her life.  Our paths continued to cross, but with less regularity, yet she would continue to seek out prayer when she was struggling.  A text would come, I would make time and she would visit.  I knew some, but not all of her back story, so it was with sadness that I received her text recently telling me of her ex husband’s release.  When I read it my heart sank … I felt so strongly for her and her girls and the fear they must have been experiencing …

In response to her text I instantly prayed – feeling quite useless knowing that I couldn’t fix this one … this one was well beyond me … it was beyond her … it was basically well beyond anyone … but God!

I felt an anointing flow as I drove and prayed. I hoped, I trusted, that she would feel God with her, she needed His tangible presence at this time … and when I got home I texted to let her know I had been praying peace for her and her girls …

I saw her later that week.  She wanted and needed more prayer, in person, and she needed a cuddle, and so my husband and I made time.  We stopped in our busyness to be with her, to give her a word of encouragement, including the word “plugged in”.  We knew it was time for her to connect … not just with us, not just with God … but into a body that could care, pray and walk with her through this time …

She said that she hadn’t known what to do when she got the news.  She was paralyzed with fear and shock. She just knew to text for prayer, and so she did … and the peace came not long after.  I couldn’t call her or text her at the time, but as soon as I saw the text I started to pray knowing the stress she would have been experiencing. She knew I would pray and she told me she felt a flow of serene peace … a peace that she just could not explain … and she knew the text had got through and been responded to … she knew I was praying for her, she knew God was there for her to hang onto.  She had said at the time that the peace was amazing, but she also felt comfort that there was someone who cared enough to be available to text and to pray …

She continues the journey.  It has not been an easy few weeks, but she has now taken the next step to get “plugged in” … she is plugging in deeper with God and she is getting plugged into a local Christian community with our family (oh the blessing of a local church!).  I believe that it will be in that community (rather than it just being me and God) that healing will come.  I am trusting and hoping that community will form around her to walk with her and her girls, and that she will continue to heal, and learn how to walk knowing that God will protect her because …

God is Good!