What Could I Give Them?

What Could I Give Them? Colossians 1.17, 20

Arriving in plenty of time at Los Angeles International Airport, I was waiting to board my Boston-bound plane, sipping a sumptuous cup of Peet’s coffee . . . all of a sudden, a woman started screaming, ‘Help him! O somebody, help him please!!’ Turning quickly around, I saw her jump up and cast frantically about for someone, anyone who could lend assistance. I bound off my seat and got to her traveling companion just in time to catch his head and shoulders in my arms. His eyes rolled back in his head as he lost consciousness, going completely ashen. What could I do but pray? And so I did, out loud, ‘O God we need your help right now, so I pray for my friend in the way you told us to pray – in the powerful name of Jesus. Touch him, God . . . bring him back, reverse whatever is going on in his body, I pray! In Jesus’ name, Amen.’

Momentarily, his eyes fluttered open, as he struggled to sit up, surprised to see me for sure. About that time, medical help arrived on the scene. His wife, Alexandra, was still freaked out (no more apt description than that), so I stepped over and asked her if she would like me to pray for her. She grabbed my hands in hers, and said, “Oh yes, please!” So I did what I knew to do – quietly asked the Lord to give her his peace . . . to calm her, and of course, to touch her husband. Then I hugged her and walked away to board my aircraft.

What could I give Mike – for healing? Only Jesus. That’s for sure. 
What could I give Alexandra – for peace, comfort? Only Jesus.

And then as I flew across the heartland of America, working on my laptop, a prayer request came in to PastorWoman.com – ‘prayer we need’: “Daughter Kyla 16 was adopted as infant; was raped, dealing with suicidal issues and anxiety and self harm. She's in hospital now. Pray she renounces things and is delivered and healed Amen.”

I wrote back as I flew:
Nancy,
I am praying for dear Kyla right now. Praying that God will pierce through her immense pain and give her peace.
Where are you? Where is she?
Thank you, and please keep me informed if possible.
Christine DiGIacomo

The response: 
“Oh wow thank you. We live in Hibbing, Minnesota. They took her to Fargo, North Dakota - Prairie St. John's - two days ago. She ran away and cut herself, then had 3 seizures; she wrote a suicide letter, but God kept her safe.”

Oh Friends . . . don’t you see? Without Jesus, we are lost. I had no way to get to Kyla or Nancy – no way to whisk Kyla out of her hell, protect her from herself or anyone else, but Jesus . . . That’s because, without Jesus, we are a hopeless people. Without Jesus, then who else? Jesus for Mike in his desperate medical moment; without Jesus, nothing to give his wife – no peace. And without Jesus, how could I extend hope to a woman in Minnesota as I flew overhead?

And then today . . . I was in Nantucket, Massachusetts. While it is a picturesque, historic, charming little seaside town, I have to say, that folks in Massachusetts are not the friendliest—not even in Nantucket. Grabbing a sweatshirt for Danny, I asked the salesperson what it was like to live on the island. We talked about the friendliness of her Jamaican culture, and how different this all was – even after the many years she had lived there. ‘Can I ask you – are you a woman of faith?’ ‘Yes, I am,’ she replied. ‘And what would that be?’ I pressed in. ‘Christian,’ she said, without really looking up. ‘Oh, me too,’ I warmly responded. And from there, we were off—like old friends!

Before I left, I asked her if there was anything which I might pray for her. . . ‘yes, please – I have been trying to have a child for many, many years.’ She certainly engaged me with her eyes at that point. I came around the end of the counter in an otherwise empty store; ‘let’s pray right now’. And then I did it.
Yup, once again, I prayed that in Jesus’ name, her womb might be opened.

In each and every case, individual though they be – only One will do, only One can come and do what He can do – Jesus. – He [Jesus] is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1.17 Throughout the gospels, we saw that no one who ever encountered Jesus stayed the same. It is true today – no one who truly encounters Jesus stays the same . . . he alone is our Light and Life.1 I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly2, Jesus declared. What else, who else could we give them but Jesus?

Christine Todd DiGiacomo

1 – John 1.4-5 
2 – John 10.10b