the lifter of your head...

I wanted to share with you another thing that came to mind on my run yesterday morning. 

Two weekends ago, I helped plan a day retreat for some moms in our neighborhood.  We got to go up to Snoqualamie Pass to a beautiful cabin owned by a family that one of our neighbors knew.   

Our retreat leader started the time together reading the passage about Jesus healing the woman crippled for 18 years.  

Her is the passage from Luke 13...Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman on the Sabbath

"10 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God." 

She led us with the Lectio Divina approach.  First she asked us to listen for a word or a phrase that stood out to us.  We all shared different words:  immediately, could not straighten up at ALL, for 18 years, Jesus saw her, called her, set free, put his hands on her, straightened up, praised God! 

Then she had us imagine we were right there in the synagog with Jesus, hunched over, just looking at the group, and straining to see him as it would be difficult to see hunched over.  

I immediately thought of you, Jens.  The woman would have had a very hard time breathing too being hunched over for so long.  It would have been hard for her to lift her head. 

It reminded me of a verse in Ps 3:3: "But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high."  This image of Jesus gently calling forth, touching her and lifting her head so that she can stand straight was powerful.   

Jens, I thought of this again yesterday on the run, and it seems so appropriate on the day of your surgery. Your journey has not been 18 years- but 32... What I love about this story is that Jesus came to this woman. She was not one of the ones asking for healing like so many stories in the Bible. He SAW her and moved toward her and healed her.  She did not even have to ask for it. 

This fits your day yesterday too- you all were not expecting the call so soon. Abby shared with me that when you were listed that your score was low and that you'd probably be waiting a few months. And even with that, they told you to prepare for the emotional low of not getting the lungs. 

And then yesterday, God saw you, moved toward you and gave you new set of lungs.  He is the lifter of your head.  I am praising God for the amazing gift that came yesterday and through the night with your surgery. I am praying for your continued healing and freedom. I am praying for the time when we will share tears of joy with you when you are off the ventilator and you get to breathe with your new lungs.