The Gift of Harmony
This last weekend has been one of much spiritual encouragement for me in my grief journey and I could not let this week’s blog of joy be posted without sharing about it. I will share what all this weekend entailed and, in some ways, I will share more of the details. Through it all, I hope we each use this as encouragement to share our stories to enhance living in harmony together, even while grieving.
This weekend started off with getting to go to the Charlotte Crusade. Witnessing a large crowd of believers from one city put aside their differences and come together to worship the same God was mind-blowing. It was a small, but sweet glimpse of what I imagine Heaven will be like - all of us content in praising Jesus for Who He is and What He has done. One of the neat things that stood out to me about this event was that there were people in South Korea that have been praying for Charlotte for years. While we have been busy sending out missionaries to other countries, South Korea has had a group of people burdened for Charlotte that have been praying for us. Because of their prayers and the obedience of church leaders here, we got to experience living and worshiping in harmony together - something that should never be taken lightly or for granted.
The next great thing that I experienced this weekend was a women’s worship night at a local church. This was not a night of only sharing good parts of life and saying God is always good. This evening was filled with women sharing stories of being courageous through terrible trials. Their stories were plagued by grief, but one thing remained true in each of them: life is hard and God is good. Woman after woman stood on the platform and cried over the pain of loss and the graciousness of God. We do not see this kind of vulnerability often enough. I found encouragement in these women sharing openly that their struggles with grief were crippling. By them sharing their testimonies, I felt seen and understood by women I have never met. It was a sweet reminder that our stories have a purpose and we need to share them so that others may be encouraged at whatever place they are at on their journeys.
I also got to witness someone who is in the youth in my life choose to proclaim Christ publicly for the first time. He was baptized and happy about it. That is one step closer to the goal - sharing our faith with others so that we can encourage them and be held accountable as we grow.
The last amazing spiritual encouragement I experienced this weekend was an unplanned chat with a dear friend. I have noticed this friend struggling from a distance for a little while and I never took the initiative to reach out. After praying about this for about a week and half, God presented the opportunity to have a deeper conversation and get to the issues going on in both of our lives. What a sweet time to get to grow closer in Christ with her and get to hold each other accountable spiritually. It is encouraging to spur each other on in the faith and it is why we are designed for community. We are designed to experience the gift of harmony. I am thankful God presented the opportunity and granted me the courage and obedience to listen and share what He guided me to.
I share all of this with one commonality: each encouraging circumstance was brought about by people being willing to share and share honestly. No matter where we are in our grief journey, let us find encouragement this week in knowing that our stories, no matter how messy, can encourage others. We never know who needs reminding that they are not alone. We do not experience grief in vain, but we experience it to grow and to share. Let us find joy in knowing our grief has a purpose and let us be obedient enough not to overlook opportunities that present themselves for us to honestly share where we are in the process. That honesty is the gift of harmony, so let us find our joy in that this week.
“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” - Romans 15:5-6
