"For I can do everything through Christ, who
gives me strength." (Phil. 4:13 NLT)
Miracles can come in many packages, and yesterday's came in the shape of a
tall, middle-aged woman who walked in off the street to visit the grief
support group I facilitate....
But perhaps it's good to back up a bit....
The support group for grieving people has been running with four
facilitators for the past five years. Things were going smoothly, and I
thanked God for my co-facilitators. I knew I could rely on them completely
to be there when I couldn't be there. And perhaps I relied on them a bit too
much, because in the Spring of this past year, all three of them resigned
the same week....
Was it time for me to resign as well? How could I carry the burden of such a
group all by myself? And as shy as I am, how could I recruit new
facilitators?
I prayed and asked God to allow me to resign. His answer was clear: "No!"
I prayed then and told God that He would have to come through with more
facilitators, or I wouldn't be able to run the group. His answer this time
was.... Well, it actually was non-existent. It was like He hadn't even heard
my prayer, because weeks turned into months and there were no potential
facilitators knocking on my door.
I took the problem to the pastor of our church who is responsible for the
grief support program. He began making phone calls, and he even made several
announcements in church that there was this need.
More weeks went by. "God? You know I can't do this alone!"
His answer? "You can do everything through Christ, who gives you
strength!" (See Phil 4:13)
Well you can't argue with the Word of God, so I resigned myself to running
the fall group by myself.
That wasn't good enough for God, however. He soon helped me to see that He
hadn't told me to run it by myself. He had told me that I could only do it
if I did it through Christ!
I gave the whole thing to God at this point and I was filled with peace. I
even had joy overrunning my heart. I knew that somehow it would be the best
support group session ever, because God was in charge, and I, but His humble
servant.
It was only a few days after that when I received an email from the pastor
telling me that someone had volunteered to co-facilitate the group.
I praised God.
Then I received another email from the same pastor to inform me that there
would be at least nine people attending the class...
Nine people! Yikes! We would need more than two facilitators for nine
people!
I had learned my lesson, however. I gave it all back to God and continued to
pray for someone else to step up to the plate.
As the beginning class approached, I was contacted by a few more people,
bringing our potential member list up to 12. Again I was tempted to panic,
but I gave it back to God instead. I knew that either He would come through
with someone new or He would carry the two of us through. I actually found
myself not caring one way or the other which way it went!
The day of the first session, I received a call from a stranger in a nearby
town. She was requesting permission to attend the first session with a new
member in order to help him feel more comfortable. She was familiar with
this particular grief support group and had even been a facilitator for this
group in her own town in the past. At the end of that first session, she
came up to me and told me God had put it on her heart to make the 30 minute
drive every week to co-facilitate this group....
My miracle of God was literally a perfect stranger who walked in off the
street....
I think the most significant part of this miracle, however, is that it
happened only AFTER I submitted the entire thing to God's hands....
God is so good! There is ALWAYS hope in Him!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two, Author
-- "Aboard God's Train
-- A Journey With God Through the Valley of Cancer", Author and Moderator
for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter,
Scriptural Nuggets, a website
devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with
Answers2Prayer Ministries.
Follow Lyn on Twitter @lynchaffart.