The weak will lead the strong!!!!

I have never know great loss in my life...

....but after serving in the homeless shelter downtown OKC and returning from Africa, I can now say that I have stared into the eyes of devestating loss and despair.

I have looked into the eyes of a dying man and offered him the only thing I knew to give...compassion and prayer.

I have wept and prayed with a woman who was about to lose her husband. I felt so inadequate as I looked down at her bowing her head in humbled silence...not able to understand the words I was praying over her.

I watched as one of her hands separated from a prayerful clasp and soon found a resting place on the arm of her dying husband.

Even in the midst of a prayer that was meant to offer her strength and endurance as she takes care of her husband in his last days; she extended her hand to her husband, lifted her face to meet my gaze and nodded in his direction in a gestured request for more prayer on his part.

I have never seen or experinced such tremendous strength.

I heard a song as I was driving to school today that said... "He uses the weak to lead the strong"

As I meditated on that verse I began to think back to this woman and her husband.

This woman who was seemingly weak and in despair was leading me to see Christ in a much deeper way.

I am not saying that I am strong...at all.

All I know is that that day as I sat in the little mud hut of a family who was about to lose everything, I was able to stare into the eyes of someone who was frail and beaten down by the circumstances of this world, and see how the weak can lead by the way they choose to glorify the Lord through their suffering.

She did not complain...

She did not tell everyone how bad her situation was...

She just humbly bowed her head, reached out a loving hand to her husband and smiled the most compassionate smile I have ever seen.

There were no words spoken between us that day because of the language barrier;however, the tearful glances that we shared and the gentle hugs that were offered spoke greater volumes than any words could ever express.

Praise the Lord that the Holy Spirit intercedes in moments like these and allows us to make deep connections that we would otherwise be unable to make.

The sweet face a a gentle stranger quickly became a face I will never forget!

Oh how He loves you and me!!!