We met through an email group that was made up of Christians with Lyme Disease. Over 500 in the group who prayed for each other. At times several would engage in phone conference calls where we would fast and pray together. I became closer to two young women; Katherine who is now a dear friend. We actually met in person at a healing conference in CT in 2013 and have continued to stay close. The other young woman I have stayed in touch with mostly through Facebook. When Joel and I attended that healing conference at a Lutheran church in CT, we took a commuter train to NYC to visit all the sights, While there we were able to meet in person with K.F. at Grand Central Station where we had a face to face visit. What fun it was to get together and actually hug the person I had been praying for.
K.F. is a mom of two now and married to a doctor who happens to be from Sri Lanka. A man who has stories about the prejudice against him, even in the hospital, white coat or not. But I am not talking about the racism he experienced. It is not my story to tell. What I do want to share here is the boldness and courage K.F. has shown as she shared on Facebook no less, her journey of recovery from severe ongoing sexual abuse throughout her childhood. What struck me about her writing was how little we listen, truly listen to others. Especially when it does not fit into our own beliefs or agenda or it makes us uncomfortable. What impacted me was the courage with which she spoke out on social media, one of the most judgmental communities of all.
You see, as a child she did what we are told to do, she told someone what was happening to her. She told many as best she could describe it....and no one listened. No one believed her. Finally in her senior year of high school, she told a friend and he told his mom and that mom stepped in. The many years of abuse and lack of help brought K.F. to a place of rage and anger and it was not until after a lot of therapy and knowing Jesus as her Savior that her healing began. And now she is a mom of two daughters....a wife, and a child of God.
I understand her emotional turmoil in not being listened to. Someone important and close to me did not listen or reach out to me when my six year old self told them as I best knew how that I was being sexually abused. I was told with such intensity to never speak of it again, that I did not. I hid it from others and even from myself until I was 63 years old.
Listening. We all want someone to listen to us, don't we. To hear us. To do their best to understand and just listen. Our world is groaning now. America as we knew it is imploding on itself and everyone has an opinion as to why. In the past I have defended the media, attempting to find the most neutral place to gather information, but in the past couple of months I have come to realize that every news station is bias or looking out for what sells. When did every newscast become "breaking news"? One day I watched each and every news station to observe how they "spin the news" and believe me each one has their own spin. It is so difficult to get beyond what sells to what we need to hear. So the past 11 days Joel and I have turned off the TV from any news and our home has become a much more peaceful place. But I digress.....
Listening. How do we have a listening ear? How do we weep with those who weep, support all who are in the middle of this turmoil we call 2020? How do we seek truth? And for those who need it, how do we become their listening ear? How do we face the hard stuff so that little children who speak about what has happened to them are not ignored. Maybe we start by listening to the little children.
Not too long ago as I was dusting, I was speaking to God about how I desired to have a more intimate relationship with Him and wanted to hear His voice more often, and I immediately heard Him say, "make more time for me". So simple as His child. Make more time to not only voice our needs, but quietly listen.....in His Word, in what He shows us, what He whispers to us....yeah.....make more time. There are many ways to hear the voice of God. A close friend uses journaling as a way to hear from God. Sometimes He gives us rhema words, they just stand out when we read scripture. Sometimes He uses the voices of others. For me at times it is visions that come up in my mind. Sometimes it is a "knowing" that comes for people. God loves to communicate with us.
We can learn from God how to be a listening ear for a hurting world. Right now. Right here. Because the whole world is groaning. And ALL of God's children have a story to tell. We need to just bend our ear and listen.
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