As I crouched beside my bestie in our hot, crowded garage trying to help her breathe, I realized this is who we are as Christ’s body, and this is what we do. We are the people who put the broken pieces back together.
I spent my holiday cradling yet another friend, shock-eyed with justified hot tears. Her husband had decided he “didn’t love her anymore.” Earlier, I had talked to a friend who had taken a foster child into her care—a child who was nonverbal because of abuse. Two days prior, I had listened as another friend tried to help someone whose children were mom-less. Everywhere I turned, people were dealing with crises.
When unconditional vows give way to discontent and wayward eyes, we’re the ones who come in and pick up the pieces of broken hearts. When good intentions can’t compete with mental disorders or abuse, we’re the ones left to give a mothering touch. And when children are left mom-less from cancer’s stubborn grip, we’re the hug givers and casserole bearers.
Many think of Christians as pristinely dressed, clean-freak, holy angels. Our hands, though, are dirty from being in the muck and mire of repairing what the evil one has tried to destroy. We are the hope givers, the first responders.
Helping isn’t always convenient. Many times, we’re ill-equipped. But in a broken world, we’re the only ones who stand in the gap between despair and a second chance.
Keep fighting the good fight and keeping the faith.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
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April Estes lives in Knoxville and is a Mom to four, wife to one, and enjoys writing songs while waiting in carpool.