Oct 1st, 2022: Be With Those Who Suffer
Listening to a young woman who shared her experience of being raped repeatedly by a family member for over four years as a teenager made my heart ache. The man who did that was a leader of a church. He was imprisoned for seven months and released. He was her stepfather. Her mother chose to pick him over her after his release. Her life has changed forever. She had to go to a foster home. Her foster parents helped her with her restoration and her faith in God.
Her supervisor at work asked me to see her because someone at work was inappropriate toward her. That triggered many emotions within her. I did not expect the story I heard from her. The meeting took longer than I thought, and it was toward the end of the day. She kept talking about her anger and the pain she felt when men treated her like a subject. I knew that the best I could do was to listen. She told me she had not been able to tell anyone as much as with me.
God reminded me of the true calling of being a pastor. Be with the sheep when they are lost and hurt. Being there can be a crucial aspect of pastoral care when we have no word and are incapable of understanding what we hear from others. She was emotionally wasted at the end, so we sat still for a few minutes. She asked me to pray for her,and I was glad to do that.
I remember what I saw in my prayer earlier that day. It was an image of a lost puppy wandering the street of a large city. He became fearful and not trusting towards anyone he saw. He needed to find someone he could trust. I sat by the steps outside a cafe, and he came and sat next to me. He didn't make any noise. I gave him some water to drink and he was just content.
Sometimes God speaks to us through dreams and images. I am grateful for that dream because it prepared my heart, mind and spirit for the conversation I had later on.
John 16: 20
"Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy."
Isaiah 61: 1-2
"The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn."
