On Wednesday night, we were at our church's worship service where we sing for an hour during the summer. Ty and I haven't attended every Wednesday night this summer, but this might have been our fourth time. One of the songs we sang was "Jesus Loves Me," which we also sang at Jensen's memorial service, so that made me sad and tear up. Then, when a prayer was led, I heard newborns crying and the man leading the prayer said, "Thank you for the crying babies." At that point, I kind of lost it. Of course, I'm grateful for the babies, but it just made me miss my baby.
I got up and went to the restroom to take a break. There's another room in this restroom where I could sit on a bench, away from the main part. I sat there just crying for a little bit. About 10 minutes later, a young woman came into the room I was in and asked if I was okay. I said, "I will be." She came closer and asked if she could pray for me. I said yes. I didn't tell her anything about me or why I was crying before she prayed. I know God hears all prayers, and there's no grade system for prayers, but what she prayed was truly beautiful. She prayed that God's light would shine through whatever darkness was happening in my life.
After the prayer, we talked a little more and I learned a little about her and I told her I am a PhD student. She acknowledged how difficult getting a PhD is and asked if school was making me stressed. I said, "No, school is easy compared to what I'm going through." I told her about Jensen and how hearing the babies cry during church is hard for me.
This event has replayed in my mind a lot since Wednesday. There are a few reasons why this stood out to me. First, this was a young woman, maybe 23 years old. I don't know many people who would do what she did, especially younger people. Second, she didn't ask me why I was crying. When she asked me about school, I shared about Jensen and why I was sad. Third, she prayed from her heart, believing she should talk to God on my behalf. She said, "I'm a little awkward sometimes, but I felt like God was telling me you needed Him." Fourth, she doesn't even live in Lubbock! She lives in LA, and she was just here visiting her family.
The world and our nation have been so divided lately. I don't expect non-believers to act Christlike, but sometimes Christians don't act Christlike either. The person I met Wednesday night was a wonderful Christian example in this broken world. She didn't have to go out of her way to say anything to me. She didn't have to pray for me. She could have asked me why I was sad. She could have gone to tell someone else about it instead of talking to me. She sure didn't have to reach out to a complete stranger that she probably will never see again. She didn't have to do anything, but she believed she needed to. I would have been okay if no one had talked to me, but because she did, I was able to see God working through her.
Psalm 34:18 says, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted," and sometimes the Lord is seen through those around us.