You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.
-Ephesians 2:19 (NRSV)
WHEN I used to read the words of Isaiah 40:29, "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak" (NIV), I would see myself as one of the weak ones. After all, instead of witnessing to my many friends who don't really know God, I would let my loneliness and problems dealing with aged parents overwhelm me.
But the words of today's meditation in The Upper Room gripped my heart and, through them, God changed my thinking. The writer was struggling to live his faith among friends -- and even family -- who didn't really know God. He was from Santiago, Chile. I am a flight attendant and had just arrived in Santiago. My heart opened up, and I began to pray for this writer. Although the writer was someone I had never met, he was near me in location and in the circumstances of our lives. I felt honored that God would think enough of me to put me in that place at that moment to pray for him.
I could then see that God is working constantly to build bridges and to bring peace and reconciliation to our hearts, our countries, and our world. By nudging me to pray for another, God was showing me that I, too, have a part to play in bringing peace in Christ Jesus!
