"Lord, may my gifts make room for me,
and bring me into the presence of kings!"
and bring me into the presence of kings!"
Since he was in our neighborhood, we wanted the chance to be a witness to him. And my gift of faith made room for me! The Secret Service came over to our house and said, "The President would like to meet you." The testimony is too long for this post, but we were able to share the love of Christ to President Bill Clinton on the day the Starr Report (Monica Lewinsky scandal) hit Congress. The details of our visit hit the Associated Press with this statement published in some U.S. newspapers: "Jesus loves you, Mr. President." What radical news is this, that Jesus loves the World's Most Famous Adulterer on this day in history? As President of the United States, he was one of this world's kings, but God simply used his position of power to platform His message of love!
I always thought that this testimony was the most significant example of Proverbs 18:16 operating in my life. Until now.
Beginning the day after Thanksgiving last year, my life was sovereignly and supernaturally intersected with Heidi and Tommy Gaillard and their family. As with most connections that God orchestrates, there was common ground. My brother had a bone marrow transplant just like their daughter Jamie had. My parents knew what it was like to travel to a different city to be at their child's bedside for months. |
| Our Family Thanksgiving |
The next day (Friday) the Lord prompted me to go visit Jamie. I had not visited her yet because I was waiting to go with my friend Cheryl, but that opportunity hadn't presented itself yet. I reluctantly went. I had only met her and her parents on several ocassions. I am not at all comfortable with hospital visits, especially by myself. But I was compelled to go, and I shutter to think of what I would have missed had I not gone!
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| Jamie. |
All that transpired because of my Dad's gift and desire to help people (what the Bible calls the gift of helps). I've seen it modeled by him and my Mom my whole life. On this day I was simply operating in his gifts for him :). As for me, my gifts are different: encouragement, intercession, prophecy, faith, and some administrative gifts. I have traditionally been honored to serve "kings" in this way. But organizing meals, cooking, providing practical needs for strangers...that's just not my gift! Ask my five sisters. I have brought the same "no oven or stove needed" dishes to all our family gatherings since I was 19 years old.I am usually the one to say, "Tell me what to bring!" Then I sit nearby the whirlwind while they put everything together for our huge family gatherings.
Three weeks later, the verdict came from Jamie's own Facebook status: she was being given only days to live and needed a miracle. My thoughts: How can I serve the family, Lord? Pray with them? Organize prayer for Jamie? Encourage them? Believe in a miracle with them?
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| Jamie and her brothers. |
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| Jamie and her parents. |
Every day I drove to the hospitial, dropped off the food at the curb, hugged the family, and then set out to discover where the manna would be found the next day. While Jamie was only given days to live, the Lord reversed the shadow on the staircase (2 Kings 20) and her remaining time had been stretched into over a week now, giving her Christmas with her family.
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| My friend, Christine. |
Then God helped me to pass the baton to my friend Christine who has amazing community connections, and we set out two by two to gather that manna, and followed the family into a Hospice facility.
Christine and I don't quite know when and how it all happened, but over the next several days we became family, spending hours with the Gaillards, talking, laughing, crying, praying, running errands. We came with gifts in our hands--the practicial provision of food for the family--but we were the beneficiaries. These were not ordinary people. Our gifts of food made room for us and brought us into their presence in a very intimate way.
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| Allison, Christine and Breanna. Allison shaved her head in Jamie's honor. |
Until this time, I had not seen Jamie. In fact, I had not seen her since November. I wanted to be respectful of the family's privacy, as they had been told to say their goodbyes one by one. While they were trusting God for a miracle, they rested in the knowledge of His sovereignty and took the practical steps advised by Hospice. So, Christine and I remained in the wings.
On Sunday Heidi asked me to go into Jamie's room to speak something to her daughter. I felt like an intruder walking into that room, but my pastor had counseled me to do what the family had asked me to do and to take my cue from them. Tommy got up and said, "Let me give you some privacy" and closed the door. Jamie was not conscious, but Hospice made it clear that the hearing is still acute, even in this state. I walked out of that room changed.
My Facebook status for Sunday, January 2, at 4:27 p.m reads as follows:
"I was just unexpectedly invited into the presence of a queen.
It was humbling and unforgettable. What Beauty, what Dignity."
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| Jamie's Mom, Heidi. |
That night, we were invited into Jamie's room for prayer and communion. We were believing for a miracle. We had no way of knowing that this was her last day on earth. I watched a father stand on the right side of his 26-year old daughter's death bed singing, "God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He's so good to me." I witnessed a fiancé standing on the left side of his future bride's deathbed, with pain and peace so intricately mingled across His face. I stood next to a mother at the foot of her dying daughter's bed, her eyes and gentle smile radiating such peace, giving evidence that this woman had been with Jesus.
I reflect back to that night. I was not just in the presence of a queen. I was in the presence of a royal family. Courage, faith and trust in a Sovereign God is the crown they wear. Jamie's parents, brothers and sister and fiancé displayed a grace that can only come from a personal knowledge of Christ and a surrender to His perfect ways.
Tommy and Heidi and their family have thanked us over and over for serving them. But we are the grateful ones. As for me, I first came reluctantly and out of my comfort zone, bearing containers of food. And always true to His promises and His Word, my gift made room for me, and brought me into the presence of greatness. Never had we met such a humble, gentle, kind, courageous and beautiful family who shared some of the most intimate moments of their family with us.
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| Christine and I with Tommy and Heidi Gaillard. |
I'm so glad to have shared this experience with my friend, Christine. We will both never be the same.
