I'm a Mess, Pt. 2

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On February 4th, I prepared to teach a fourth lesson Sunday school lesson on trust. We'd studied, already, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; Job; and Noah. To make things neat and tidy, I sought another Bible story, but God just kept leading me to Psalms, and I prepared my lesson based upon the many promises written, there, regarding trust.

The next morning, I'd barely started teaching when Izabel looked at me and said: "I feel like I'm supposed to encourage you to pray scripture, daily, for your brother: a Psalm. I've done this many times, and God's answered my prayers."

"I'll think about that," I told her. "I have control issues, and I struggle in releasing things to God. I don't want a ritual to tempt me into thinking I have control over things I don't.

"But," I added, "I did read a Psalm, last night, that reminded me of my brother. I didn't take note of it, here. It was the one about the Lord hiding us under His wings."

"Psalm 91," Izabel said, without skipping a beat.

Debby, sitting beside me, muttered: "Wow."

I decided, that night, to start praying Psalm 91 for my brother, and--within 24 hours--he called around midnight to say: his primary care physician had called less than an hour earlier with a possible diagnosis for my brother's condition. I read Psalm 91 to my brother over the phone, and, shortly thereafter--in the wee hours of the morning--my brother started receiving the medication that would ultimately bring healing from the syndrome.

Even so, his relief wasn't immediate; the medication was administered intravenously for three days, and he felt worse before he felt better. I continued to pray Psalm 91, but I was disappointed and upset, and I confessed to Rachel: I thought I might be in trouble; I couldn't get out from under the weight of the burden; I couldn't sleep without waking over and over.

Rachel said little at the time, but she called me, later, to say: "I don't think you need medication, Brandee. I think God's wired you to enter certain people's burdens in this way. You were in a similar place with me this time last year: remember?"

(To be continued...)