And He was there...

I flew to Texas a couple of weeks ago and as I boarded the plane, I prayed...

"Lord, just don't put me next to a stinky weirdo."

Call me judgmental if you wish, but I'm really not. I simply like to survive my flight in the most uncomfortable non-ergonomic chair ever created, without having to take frequent walks down the aisle to get fresh air because the person next to me has no sense of proper hygiene, or ate the wrong thing before a long flight.

So I found my seat right next to the aisle and thought this might not be the most strategic location to end up, as I was surrounded on both sides, versus just to the left or right. But whatever. So next to me, an older lady and her husband wearing a Navy cap sat down, and they were followed by a woman who appeared to be about 50 and wore the lines of a tough life on her face. She appeared to be very troubled by something and it wasn't long before she revealed to the man next to her that her mother had just died and she was flying to the funeral. She then began sobbing and I overheard the man tell her that he was a Navy chaplain. He gently placed his hand on the back of her hand and tried to comfort her the best he could. I heard broken sentences laden with the kind of words you'd expect a chaplain to say..."I want to pray with you right now...the Lord is your strength..." etc. I prayed too that Jesus would help the chaplain to comfort her and if necessary, give me the words to comfort her as well. But honestly, I dreaded the thought. I've never thought of myself as the person who always knew what to say regardless of the situation. And grief isn't my forte. I avoid it like the plague.

As this poor woman cried into her blanket, I absorbed her grief like a sponge. It was overwhelming. This is why I can't even go to the funeral of someone I didn't know. I walk in and the grief jumps on me like a rabid animal and I never seem to bring enough tissue. Just as I was praying for the grief demon to be removed from my back, the woman turned to me and in a very child-like way, said...

"My mom died and I'm on my way to the funeral. That's why I'm crying." Then she donned a pitiful expression of emotional defeat and bowed her head into her blanket to sob some more.

I didn't know what to say. Here's this woman, broken and undone, and I have no words to offer. Nothing. And she cried, and cried...and cried. And I prayed. "Jesus...please...please help me to help her..."

Some time went by and she got quiet and somber. I don't recall exactly how we started talking; something about abusive ex-husbands and such. Then the conversation died down again and she sat staring at the back of the seat. But I knew where she really was. Then I sensed an urging from Above and I took my cue and handed her my ipod. Jason Upton was singing "Psalm 23" and the second she heard Jason recite the words of King David, she began to cry again. But this time it was the cry of an overwhelmed human heart, newly filled with the love of the Holy Spirit, who I know was sitting right there with her, holding her hand and telling her it was all in His hands, and that everything was okay. He always knows what to say. And on this day, He used one of His servants named Jason Upton to convey His message that was just for her. And who knows...maybe He'd even use me.

We began talking again and she asked me if I believed in Heaven and if I thought her mom was happy wherever she was now. This older woman was looking at me with the eyes of a wounded child and asking for my guidance? But I trusted Him to lead me and I assured her that I've met the Man face to face and yes, there definitely is a Heaven...a beyond comprehension place to go when we leave this place, and of course I believed...no, I knew that her mom was right there with Him in perfect love and perfect peace. That she'd always be around, looking out for her daughter, but she was now in a place where darkness never looms. Only light and love exist there and I personally, cannot wait to get there too. I also told her about all the times Jesus has shown up in my dreams and blessed my life with His visions and messages in the last year.

"He's real," I assured her. "It's all real."

Her face shone with a deep seated comfort and I felt a twinge of relief that maybe I wasn't going to miss an opportunity to do whatever it was that He was wanting me to do in that moment. So I guided her through my playlist and graced her ears and her heart with a few more songs laden with the words of God, and the plane landed in Phoenix much too soon. Who would've thought? At the start, I was more or less praying for it to be over soon so that I didn't mess it up any worse by maybe saying the wrong thing. Now I was wishing I had just a little while longer.

She stepped into the aisle in front of me and turned to face me and said,

"Thank you. I feel so much better now. Now I know I can handle the funeral."

I told her to fix her eyes on Jesus and imagine her mom standing there next to Him and know that she's perfectly where she wants to be. I saw then a smile for the first time since we'd met. A real smile. We hugged goodbye and wished each other well and walked into the rest of our lives...together in God's love.

And all the while...

He was there.