community eyes

I know God did not put us in this community of believers just so we can close our door to everyone when times are hard. In a letter from a friend in Chattanooga, this line was written. She is struggling with physical health issues that make me cringe and is wrestling with humility as her husband now works, cares for the house, and cares for her. She was asking for prayers of strength for her marriage. And yet at the bottom of the breaking process, when her pride is deflated, her faith is all she has to stand on. But it's a faith given by grace, not rooted in herself, which allows us to learn right dependencies, as we were made for. She sees her dependency on community and speaks it boldly to her community so that they see it too. And yet it's not spoken to glorify community, but to recognize the fruit of God's goodness. God is proclaimed the Alpha and the Omega in my friend's life, beyond circumstances! This line from and for the redeemed speaks of that goodness in ways that dwarf the difficulty for me that comes with seeing a friend suffer. And it's crazy but I find that with this line as I reach out to God for her, I feel transformed from a begger of intercession into one handling petitions of praise. Man was made for community, and - only then, as a result - so community is made for Man.