A few days ago I saw my neighbor as we were both walking to our children’s school. I asked how she was doing. Her English is very limited, so she told me that she was ok, however her husband was in Turkey. As someone who loves to travel, I exclaimed ‘good for him’. As best she could, she said, ‘not so good. He will be having heart surgery in a few days’.
I had seen him in the last few months. He had shared one illness with me, and that he had recovered, but to my less than trained eyes, he still didn’t look back to himself.
She explained that they had been vacationing in their country, when his leg turned purple. After getting a second opinion (first opinion was misdiagnosed), they determined that he needed heart surgery and was unable to travel back to the U.S.
She has two little kids and so I knew this season was hard on her.
I started praying for her and her husband as I thought of the circumstances, and asked God to open the door for me to be able to pray with her.
A day or so later, I saw her again. Our kids are the same age and are in the same class – so we were outside playing when she got home. We talked for a little – each of us just understanding what the other was trying to say. I remembered that I wanted to pray with her, so I asked if she prayed. I made multiple attempts – but she finally understood.
We walked to her door, held hands and I was able to pray with her for their family. I was humbled. We each didn’t need to understand what the other was saying, but prayer is universal and God understands our hearts even when we don’t have words.
When we were done, she hugged me tightly as she thanked me – she may not even have understood all the words I used, but she understood that we were lifting their family up in prayer.
Sometimes, that’s all we can do for our friends and neighbors who need our help.
And I’m realizing, that is the best thing we can do.
Dear Heavenly Father, please guide us to the people who need a word from you. Please teach us how to approach your throne humbly so that we may be of use to you. Help us to carry each other’s burdens and to lift each other up when we are going through difficult situations.