⚕️ TREE 627: JG – the gift of healing

Remember to take a few seconds to answer this question. What you think is affects what I will write.

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I’m going to tell you about the pastor of the fourth church I attended in North Wales.

The first church was full of good people who all seemed to be living through terrible heartbreaking circumstances. In our broken state, they did us no good and we did them no good.

The second church was lively and full of young adults our age. We liked them. They liked us. But the church had a the-world-is-full-of-scary-evil vibe that didn’t sit well with us. At one of the last meetings I attended, they announced a prayer meeting against Harry Potter.

The third church was tiny. The people were lovely. The pastors had vision beyond their abilities. The longer I went, the less I wanted to be there.

The fourth church had people of all ages, lots of kids, a friendly feeling, lots of banners that people liked to wave during the music. (It’s a thing.)

A couple weeks after we started attending, the pastor, his name is Jim, came over for tea. We told him about Teifion dying and expected to hear what we’d heard over and over: that God had his reasons, that it would all work together for good, that it was wonderful God had given us another child. Jim said none of those things. He told us that he was so sorry such a terrible thing had happened to us. Then he told us with tears in his eyes about his young daughter’s sudden death. He sat with us, knowing our pain but not needing to make sense of it. This was one of the greatest gifts of healing ever given to Christine and I.

Thank you, Jim.

Grab a little Sims attitude for your Friday.

You know what’s worse than mansplaining? Godsplaining.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Jeff