Monday, May 01, 2006

Imagine this...

You are standing on the sidewalk of a church. It is dark outside and there is a chill in the air. To the right there is a circle of 30 men. Young men. Old Men. All recovering addicts. They are all praying. In the middle of that circle is your little brother. All of those men are laying their hands on your brother and asking God to take away his addiction.....

Can you even imagine the feeling? The sight of it? I can because I saw it happen last night at my church. That circle of prayer was wrapped around my brother!

A group of 50 or more men and women came from The Faith Home and shared song and testimony. Talk about powerful!!! I was moved to tears as were several others. To hear their stories of complete heartache and being totally broken and then about their incredible healing through God's grace. I sat in awe of these men and women. They were heroes in my eyes! I have seen what drugs can do. I have felt the pain and ache of watching someone sink deeper and deeper into satan's grasp. I am still feeling the pain of it. I have watched my brother fight with everything that is in him and then watched satan grab him up again. It is heartbreaking.

But there is a wonderful side to all of this. God has a plan and a time for everything. My brother will get better and he will snap the chains that bind him. It may not be when I want it to happen but I have learned to let God take over. I know that everything happens because it is a part of God's plan. He is using my brother to touch so many lives. My super sweet friend went to church for the first time in 17 years. She had reached a point of hopelessness and came to church. Guess what she found there? HOPE!

3 comments:

Dancing Boys Mom said...

I'm glad your brother came to church. I will continue to keep him in my prayers. Glad to hear about your friend, too. How very exciting for you.

God Bless.

Sara

Sandy said...

I most certainly will "keep coming back" to church. I did find HOPE there and I'm sure that I will continue to find HOPE there. I am glad that I went to church after all these years. 17 years was way too long!

Sandy said...

I decided today I would go back and read some old posts. This one made me cry. I remember how I felt in "those" days. My heart went out to Bernie because I wanted to help him so much.

I thank the Lord everyday that Bernie is where he is today. He is a wonderful man and his intentions are nothing but good. I love him. He is the definition on a real man.