A lily among thorns

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Disclaimer: This post is possibly one of the toughest I’ve tried to write. It’s taken me a couple of weeks to process and I am still having trouble putting it all into words. Consider it an introduction to a series of posts.

Last summer when I prayed God would grow a compassion for the least in my heart, I should have known he would. Since then he has been amending the soil of my soul with his Word… planting seeds of his promises, character, and love. Here I now stand on the brink of Spring time and my heart soil is bursting with new life.

Like a lily among thorns is my darling among young women. Song of Solomon 2:2
 
I met a woman. A woman who has lived a hard forty years without love… without safety… and without peace. A woman so devoured by satan she is practically invisible to the world around her. No one sees her. No one hears her cries. No one cares.

This woman (let’s call her Lily) has been living in a motel. Lily had recently been released from jail. She owns nothing. She has medical issues from years of drug and alcohol abuse.

What Lily does possess is a welcoming, sweet disposition. She greeted me like an old friend. We sat and talked openly about life and family. She showered me with hospitality.

And I thought I was there to help her.

I sat in her home no bigger than a single room in mine and found myself feeling sorry for her. The Holy Spirit convicted me on the spot –pity isn’t the same as holy compassion! Lily doesn’t need pity. She needs love. She needs her Savior. She needs a friend…and that is what I pray she can call me.

I have known Lily only a few short weeks. In that time the Lord has taught me how to love without expectation. See I’ve always enjoyed giving to others … when it’s easy or I’ll receive something in return. Loving Lily isn’t easy or natural or convenient. It is exactly the love Jesus calls us to…

Didn’t Jesus go out of his way for the Samaritan woman? She was an outcast among the outcast. Jesus “had to go” through Samaria on his way to Galilee (John 4:4). No, no he didn’t. Jews went to great lengths to avoid Samaria and its people. Jesus made his way into this woman’s life with every intention of showing her compassion and kindness like she had never experienced. He offered her the hope, forgiveness, and wholeness that can only be found in Living Water. She was forever changed by this encounter with her Savior.

Have you encountered this Jesus?

Fact: You are a precious Lily among thorns. Jesus longs for you.
Fact: Jesus is pursuing you. He is at the water well anticipating your encounter.
Fact: Jesus LOVES you so stinkin’ much. His love cannot be expressed in words so he showed you by giving up his life for yours.
Fact: Jesus calls you to love like he loves – without expectation, relentlessly, with holy compassion.

Colossians 3:12-14 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.