Forever Changed

As a Pastoral Team, we have been reading Unwritten together. It’s the story of John and Lorraine Baergen and what they learned/how they dealt with crisis. Tragedy struck their family in the form of a drunk driver and their lives were forever changed in the blink of an eye.

Although none of us on the team have personally experienced tragedy in this way, or perhaps even on the same scale, so much of what they wrote is applicable for us here and now!

It’s not a how-to-manual or a catchy guide for thriving in the midst of trials and tragedies; it’s simply their story. Their story of what they learned about themselves, about God and about others in the wilderness of discovering and navigating a life they never expected for themselves.

Each of us has been doing that for the past year…

Navigating.

Improvising.

Staying home.

Winging it.

Treading water.

Surviving!

All the while, life has not stopped. The children keep growing and the bills keep coming. School stretches on and so do our bodies! We shop for food/have our food delivered, we put the food on the table, eat it up and repeat… just like before, except totally different.

Something in us has changed – a lot of somethings have changed.

As a church we have been growing together in some pretty incredible ways too! We have been learning to hear the voice of God and to depend on the Lord more fully than we ever did pre-pandemic. We have seen and heard many incredible and miraculous testimonies of healing and provision! Of God’s intervention in our lives… and yet, COVID remains.

At Kidz Harbour, nearly every single time we pray together, we pray for COVID-19 to go away.

Here we are now, approaching the one year mark since we originally entered the lockdown, and we are still praying for the same thing. And, frankly, we’re not about to stop.

Because prayer is not about getting God to do a thing. Prayer is not about convincing God to do what we want.

Of course we pray with faith, believing that God can and does intervene in our lives! We have countless examples of him doing just that! We also have countless examples of seemingly unanswered prayers; of great disappointments and loss. Of entering the Wilderness of Not-What-We-Expected…

Our prayer life is about so much more than the outcome… it is about connection with Our Creator, Our Saviour, Our Comfort & Our Sustainer… Prayer is not some kind of transactional thing. It’s not a formula to make something happen, nor is it useless when what we pray for does not come to pass.

When we pray we draw nearer to God. We bring him the heaviness of our realities not just so that he can change them but so that we can be changed. Time in his presence always leaves us changed for the better. When we pray, we can be restored and released of the weights and weariness.

“Come to Me, [says Jesus] all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Do not be discouraged Life-Spring… The prayers we pray together and the ones your spirit whispers to God alone in the wee hours of the night; the Big Asks and the littlest details alike matter!! Because each and every time we bring our requests before God, every time we give thanks for what he has done/is doing/will do, we are choosing to connect with the Lord of Life. And that time is never wasted.

Consider these words as you go back to your day. The Lord spoke them to Joshua after Moses had died, right as his life was forever changed… and the Lord speaks them over each of us today (and every day):