lattes with Onesiphorus, and thoughts on being left and found

It is no small thing to find a friend who feels comfortable enough and who is faithful enough to start a conversation over lattes that once again, were her treat, that begins with..."So while I was driving to Mass I was having a conversation with Mary...."

This gift of friend is not lost on me. That in the midst of the worry and uncertainty, the sorrow and grief, God sends a refresher...an encourager...who always, always, always, turns my eyes back to Him.

And Saint Paul gets it. In 2 Timothy, he speaks of such refreshment...of Onesiphorus....who comes to Paul as a desperately needed drink...a cool wind in the blazing hot desert...when everyone else had abandoned him.

Beth Moore writes that "refreshers are rare finds in this narcissistic world." I could not agree more.

We have all felt deserted by someone at one point or another. We have all felt left for dead, alone in our circumstances, and tired of the race. It is in these moments that living convinced and courageous feels impossible, because honestly...where is God?? Where is the healing? Where is the relief? Where is the miracle? Where is the possible that was preached about? Where is the cool drink in the dry desert that we have been left in?

But have you considered...that while we have all been left, have we not also all been found?

I wonder if you, sitting in the desert, can take a moment to think about that. The refresher. The encourager. The someone that came into your life and spoke truth and shined light and solved every single problem by solving nothing at all, but pointing you to the One who can.

Sure. We have all felt loss. We have all lost something. And we will continue to lose so long as we are living on this side of the veil. But praise be to God who sends us refreshers - who come with stories and prayers and genuine hope, who, over giant lattes, fills your soul and sends you off singing...not changing your circumstances or performing any miracles...but who simply breathes out the possibility that even if nothing changes, this life we are living together is still just so good.

And so I got into my car, refreshed and encouraged, and I spoke to Mary about this gift her Son has given me the whole ride home, and how if He were not to answer another single prayer of mine in the way that I would like Him to answer...it is okay.

He has already given to me more than I ever deserved.