She sat across the table from me recounting numerous stories, ways God had revealed himself through all of it, with fierce conviction and love in her tear-filled eyes.
It was my first encounter with my dear friend who had lost her teen daughter to cancer just nine months prior. To hear her recount instance upon instance of the certainty of God’s plan and His orchestration in the life (and death) of her daughter, Mallory, is beyond words that my human mouth can form. As a distant bystander and prayer warrior for nearly a year during Mal’s illness, it took me months to even begin to grasp the work God had done. I struggled to fathom His plan in all this, the intention and meaning. How were our prayers not answered (in our way)? How could her family even face life without her?
As I sat there clinging to every word, the words that echoed in my heart and mind were “the Body of Christ.” It became the recurrent answer when I considered our family connectivity to theirs, our hearts’ desires for Mal’s healing, the ache and sorrow that lingered and loomed whenever we tried to make sense of it.
“If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.” – 1 Corinthians 12:26
The Body of Christ.
It’s because of that. We are uniquely and forever bonded in faith to all the members of the Body of Christ. When we hurt, others hurt, too. Others rejoice and we rejoice along with them. We comfort when they need comforting. We pray when we don’t know what else to do. We pray when they cannot and they do not know what to do. We make hotdishes, bake breads and cakes in order to bring comfort to a family grieving.
We do and we feel because we are. We ARE the Body of Christ.
Is your heart aching? Your soul yearning? Is that person over there—that one just a little too “different” for you—the one who really needs you to look at them and be their light today? Pray for the members of this aching Body and ask Jesus to send you someone today for whom you can be His hands. Whether you are seeking someone to be the Body for you or someone to whom you can become the Body, they are there. We all want to be a part of something and we already are. Albeit broken, quirky and odd at times, this Body of Christ needs you to help serve, to mend, to minister to it.
Go forth and reach out!
“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” – St. Teresa of Avila
Sarah Heidelberger is a wife and homeschooling mom of five who keeps her days steady with her planning and organizing skills. Read more about her on the “Perpetual Posters” page.