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The Lord Shows up in the Church Library

March 2, 2015
Bonnie Nichols

Bonnie Nichols

Chris Meehan

Written by Bonnie Nichols, this is the seventh in a series of stories about ways in which prayer has touched people’s lives. The stories will run between now and the CRC Prayer Summit 2015 set for April 13-15 at All Nations CRC in Los Angeles, Calif.

If you have a story about prayer that you would like to share, please send it to Chris Meehan at [email protected]. Any questions, call 1-616-224-0849.

Our relationship with one another and with the Lord has deepened and grown as we meet regularly in the church library to pray.

We use the library on weekdays when there are no church events on the calendar. It provides a private place where the three of us can meet together for a couple hours.

We began one day by catching up. “So, how was your family reunion in Colorado?”

Carrie and I hear the painful emotion in Lona’s voice as she describes an interaction with her younger sister. Sub-surface meanings had turned a small incident into something much larger.

Lona was taken back through her memory to their childhood where huge, dark clouds of guilt hung in the air, obstructing the view. “I was so mean to my sister. We would fight over everything; and usually I won. No wonder she hates me.”

Lona told us of situations that were shameful for her to remember. She wondered if she and her sister could ever be civil together; let alone have a good relationship.

“I tried so hard to be nice!” Lona lamented, “Nothing worked”.

We asked her if she thought we should pray about this; she agreed.

As was our habit, we invited the Lord to join us (as if he wasn’t already there). We laid out the situation to him (as if he didn’t already know). And we asked him to reveal his truth to us.

Then we waited quietly, listening for his response. He had met us here before. Many other times we’d seen him show up, right here between “young adult” and “fiction.”

We believed that today he would meet with Lona. As Carrie and I silently watched, prayed, and waited, Lona’s tearful face began to relax. She smiled, and a peace settled down over us.

After a few minutes, Lona told us that she had seen the Lord in a place in her mind (a garden gazebo) where they had met before.

She said, “The Lord told me it’s OK! He loved me and my sister when we were little and he loves us still. I know that I was mean to my sister, it’s true. But I’ve been forgiven; I don’t have to carry it anymore.  I’m not responsible for her, not for the way she was, or for the way she is now.”

With clouds of guilt dispersed, Lona could now see clearly that she loved her sister, even with all the hurts and faults. She was transformed as she lost the burden of guilt and responsibility.

Carrie and I could have said the same things to Lona, but it means so much more when it comes from the Lord himself. He alone has transforming, healing power.

We offered prayers of thanks. I imagined the Lord smiling, glad that he could be of help.

“I can’t believe it” Lona said. “You’d think after all this time; I wouldn’t be so amazed that it happened again.”

No matter how often it happens, every time, we’re joyfully surprised when the Lord shows up to meet us, giving just what we need, right there in the church library.

Bonnie Nichols is director of the CRC’s Safe Church Ministry.