The Word
"And the Word was made flesh and walked among us" John 1:14
This world is not our home. We can create familiar environments to increase our comfort level, but somewhere in the depth of our soul us matter how much we are able to secure ourselves in materially, the resonance of being a "stranger in a strange land" remains.
This "strangeness", and "other-ness" probably begins with our bodies physical change into adulthood. Perhaps it is the Creators way of training us for the long-haul, of a walk of faith through unfamiliar territory.
Friday night, we met with the young women of the church to give them a special time of fellowship and bonding. Our planned activity centered on transparency, confession, and living free of fear as faultless beauties in the eyes of Christ. That afternoon I took strips of paper and wrote a letter on each strip, forming a variety of words:
FORGIVEN - 
FAULTLESS -
BELOVED -
ACCEPTED -
HIS DELIGHT -
Each young woman (including the Pastor's wife and our hostess) were handed a bundle of the strips. On one side, they wrote out things they were struggling with, or something they wanted God's help in dealing with. After they finished, one by one, they stepped out into the fresh night air and sat down at the table.
I explained the Bible tells us to "bind things on earth and they will be bound in heaven" (see Matthew 18:18) and the same is for loosing things on earth. I "cut" the problem and tore it up, placing it in a bag. I handed them their stack of letters back and asked they piece together the letters to form a "word". That "word" was God's word to them. His truth for them for this time and place.
When all had completed the task, been blessed and prayed over, I asked if anyone wanted to share what their word was. It was amazing!
One shared her word was ACCEPTED. She went on to say she struggled with fitting in and tried to "feel okay" about herself. Another shared her word was FORGIVEN. As she spoke her eyes filled with tears but a smile was also on her face as she said, "every time I pray and ask the Lord about one thing or another, I always hear back from Him, FORGIVEN."
Our Father is so faithful, and as the Africans say, "God is good all the time, all the time God is good." I didn't know who needed what WORD or how it would minister to their particular need. But the Father did.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." Hebrews 12:1-21
The King of our Homeland knew how to give each one in attendance a piece and a peace of His care.
That night His WORD, was written on a piece of colored construction paper, and it not only walked out the door in the gift bags we made for the young women, but it is stored in the hearts for the days of uncomfortable and unfamiliar circumstances in whatever foreign land they find themselves in.
