It’s what the Lord has done

There are times where I am reminded about how lucky I am to have a church family like the one we have where we attend.  Today was one of those days.

Without getting into much detail, one of the new members at our church has dealt with a lot of problems for a lot of years.  One of those is drug addiction.  With the help of our elders, another member and of course God, he has been clean for 15 days and this morning, he left for several months of rehab in a center that is about two hours away.

This morning, at 6:30, 31 people from our congregation showed up to pray with him and encourage him as he left for what is sure to be a difficult road ahead.  His communication with the “outside” – including his two young daughters – will be very limited.  And as anyone who has gone through an addiction of any kind will know, the cravings often never truly go away.  He has taken some huge steps in the right direction already, but many still remain ahead.

We stood around him, held hands or put our arms around each other (I chose the latter), and prayed for him.  He thanked everyone for coming and said that we were the first family he’d ever really had.  As I found out later, he had no family growing up.  More on this in tomorrow’s post.

Inspired by those comments, we sang “God’s Family” together before he left.  Definitely appropriate for the occasion, but at the same time another song stuck in my head that I think is equally appropriate for what is happening here – “What The Lord Has Done In Me.”

Let the weak say, ‘I am strong’
Let the poor say, ‘I am rich’
Let the blind say, ‘I can see’
It’s what the Lord has done in me

Hosanna, hosanna
To the Lamb that was slain
Hosanna, hosanna
Jesus died and rose again

To the river I will wade
There my sins are washed away
From the heavens’ mercy streams
Of the Savior’s love for me

I will rise from waters deep
Into the saving arms of God
I will sing salvation songs
Jesus Christ has set me free

Hosanna, hosanna
To the Lamb that was slain
Hosanna, hosanna
Jesus died and rose again

I see what the Lord has begun to do in him, and I stand amazed at what He can do when we give Him even the smallest opening.

Please pray that Jeremy will continue to allow God to work in him over the next several days, weeks, months and beyond.