Photo - A Present for yourself. Sift through all the photos of your from the past year. Choose the one that best captures you; either who you are or who you strive to be. Find a shot that is worth a thousand words. Share the image.
I'm going to share two images of myself. One from the beginning of 2010, one that reminds me of just how the year started. To me, it represents so many things that were bubbling under the surface last year. I had so much pain and strife in my life, so much angst and sorrow. But God, through his grace, showered me with his lovingkindness and healing. This picture perfectly captures the state of my heart at the time, bewildered and just empty. I was so emotionally exhausted from difficult circumstances in my life, there wasn't anything really left to give. I just felt poured out again and again.
Isn't it amazing what a year can do?
The second picture is from this summer, taken at Notre Dame in Paris. For me, this picture represents something quite powerful. Even though I don't hold to Catholic doctrine or religion at all, I do appreciate their commitment and dedication to the power of prayer. You may even recognize what is next to me - prayer candles. While I was in Europe, I had the fortune to visit many a cathedral. Many of them had prayer candles. For some reason, this stuck out to me while visiting Notre Dame. While daily prayer was still a part of my life, I actually lit one of these candles and praised the Lord for giving me the opportunity to heal and to travel. I thanked Him for healing me, for bringing me to this place. At the time the first picture was taken, my only prayer was to be able to feel again, to heal my heart. The Lord answered my prayer. And I became cognizant of that fact in Notre Dame, as I reflected on prayers past and present.
So this was my reminder that the Lord really does hear our prayers, big and small. Sometimes he doesn't answer them in the way that we would expect or like. But he does answer them. He does hear us. For me, that comforts me beyond all reason. I prayed for something quite insignificant in the grand scale of things. And the Lord was so gracious to me. I really am so so thankful.
p.s. Merry Christmas to all! I'm going to take time today to meditate on the word made flesh, with the result being Christ's sacrifice for me and my sin. Jesus didn't just come to give us warm fuzzies, he came to break our chains of sin and to set us free. That baby in the manger grew up, with every intention of laying down his life so that I wouldn't have to. And that is the sweetest gift of all.
No comments:
Post a Comment