from mountains to molehills

Tonight I went to a friend's house for prayer.

I have hesitated for a long time sharing about this because I don't know how much I should disclose, or how much is on such a personal level that blogging about it would break a sort of trust. But coming home tonight, I realize two things: 1) God is a God of brokenness and 2) God is a God of powerful healing. And I think you, my friends, already know this.

From what I can share, my friend has had her life's worth of troubles burdening her for a long while. Her hometown is not in Taiwan but from some province in China, and she moved here when she married her husband years ago. By her connection with several ladies at my school, eventually God drew her heart near His and she came to place her faith in Jesus. By then it was known that her husband was an abusive alcoholic. I remember last December during our Christmas party I asked how she was doing and she confessed to me a little about what she was going through with her husband being put in prison for a time. Slowly from that point, her story has unfolded bit by bit to me.

Since then, her husband has been released from prison, given a job, and started going to church with her and her children. All of these alone have been huge answers to prayer. He has been a bitter, hardened soul, but God has been working on him through our prayers. Each week there have been new small victories -- God's still small voice. God's perfect peace. God's breakdown of the enemy's lies. God's encouragement to a hurting heart.

Her husband actually attends our prayer meetings now. He is engaged in the conversations. Just last week, he was complaining about the low pay in his job for the work that he does, and the very next day after we prayed for his job, his boss commended him for his work and said he is eligible for a raise after a short period of time. Today our conversation stemmed from a discussion that hope is not lost in this world. We turned to the verse from Corinthians, "So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." We all were encouraged in the end by the genuine probing of his mind as we all thought on God's Word together. No longer is he accusatory or argumentative, but more open and frank with us. The Holy Spirit is surely renewing this man's mind!

As for my friend, I see in her that the more difficulties we face, the more we are pressed into the heart of Jesus. Life surely is not all a bed of roses, and the road towards healing seems long and winding. But in our weakness, we can find that through the blood of Jesus, we are able to say "I am strong." Tonight when we first arrived I saw a very real discouragement in her face, but by the time we left, it was replaced by God's peace. She realized once again that her husband is not her problem to fix -- I think that realization in itself is admirable.

Because of the end of the school year and many of us going back Stateside for the summer, tonight was the last prayer meeting until the fall. We prayed for protection for this family, a real hunger for God in their hearts, and further encouragement to walk with Jesus. And we know that what we pray, He will be faithful to answer.

To You, O Lord, we give glory.

God is real. Prayer is powerful. And when the faithful pray together, El Shaddai moves.