Five For...Sharing Words of Encouragement

Today is September 11....9/11...a day for remembering and reflecting.

As a woman, an American and a Christian- I am choosing to use it as a day for personal as well as collective reflection.
As I do that, I'd like to share an experience with you.

A few weeks ago in the Orthodox Christian faith it was the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos. Theotokos is the title given to Mary, the mother of Jesus. In Greek it means 'God-bearer'. On this Feast her death and resurrection into heaven is celebrated.
I was at church on the Sunday after this feast (which fell on a Saturday this year) and was touched and inspired several times during the service. It actually brought me to tears.

At one point in the service the priest blessed her icon with incense. It was while he was doing this that the censer seemed to run out of incense. It struck me and I wondered if there was spiritual significance to this. As I was thinking about this, I looked up and saw that a small stream of smoke sputtered out of the censer. There was a pause, and then another sputter of smoke.

Ever so slowly, the censer seemed to come back to life. Immediately a dear friend of mine sprang to my mind. She and her husband have been suffering with the pain of infertility for several years now and no treatments have as yet been effective. I got this overwhelming sense that the censer was a representation of her womb and that just like the censer that had slowly sputtered back to life, God could bring her womb back to life too. I was careful to note that the message seemed to be that He 'COULD' but not necessarily 'would'.

After the censing of the icon the priest explained about Mary's death and the miracle of her being the only mortal being to be resurrected in both body and soul. How God saw fit to give her this honour and bring her eternal life even in death. Again, my friend came to my mind. I couldn't shake it.

I spoke to Father after the service. I wanted his advice about whether I should share this with my friend. I know the highs and lows she has been through and the last thing I wanted to do was to give her some kind of false hope that God had 'told' me He was going to heal her. She and her husband are believing Christians and a message like that could do more harm than good. Father advised me that he thought it would be ok to share this experience with my friend as long as I stressed that the message was that God COULD do this but not necessarily that He would. I understood what he meant and was in total agreement. I left church still mulling over the whole thing in my mind.

Unfortunately, the next couple of weeks were frantically busy for both of us and we never could seem to connect with each other. I didn't want to share the experience by email because I wanted to be able to discuss it with her. The ocean between us and the 5 hour time difference can sometimes make this tricky. It wasn't until yesterday that we caught up with each other and I shared what had happened. She asked me if the date of the Feast of the Dormition is the same as in the Catholic church. I told her that it is. She then told me something that made me physically start shaking.

Apparently on the Monday after this Feast day, she had an unexpected hemmorrhage. A few weeks after that, she had her first normal monthly cycle in ten years.

I was stunned.

Now, I myself have been healed of cancer through prayer alone. (A story I will tell at another time). I know healings can happen. But I approach things like this cautiously. Have we expereinced a miracle healing? I don't know...only time will tell. Have I given my friend some hope? I don't know...she is processing the information and if I was her, I would probably be feeling all sorts of emotions.

How does this tie into September 11, you might ask?

The main thing that strikes me is... things happen. At any time a tragedy could strike. Are you holiding some words of encouragement or love for someone? Please, don't. For all the families and friends of the victims of 9/11- don't keep it to yourself. Share it. I am sure they wished they had.

Let us all live in hope and love.

Peace to all of you,