Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Putting Jesus into the Kidnapping Story

Last week I spent a few days in counseling, to sort out "stuff" related to the whole kidnapping situation. One thing the counselor had me do, which I found really helpful, was to go over the whole two days when these events happened, in my mind (which wasn't a problem, as I was already reliving the kidnapping every time my mind wasn't actively engaged with anything else), and visualize Jesus at work in each moment of these events, as things progressed.

At first, I was sort of sticking a cardboard-cutout version of Jesus into each scene. He was just sitting there, and patting my hand and saying, "It'll all work out in the end."

But then I did my "homework assignment", which was to take a specific passage from the book of Luke, where Jesus did a miracle, and use the pattern of that story to put Jesus into our story. This worked so well that I wrote it down. Last week it was something rather private that I wouldn't have wanted to share with anyone but my closest friends, but this week it doesn't feel that way, so I thought I'd put it out there.

If you'd like to read the original story, it is found in Luke 7:11-17.

Here's the Trish version:

Now it happened, the day after, that Jesus was near a city called Gracias . . . and when He came to the village of Catulaca, behold, a child had been carried off, away from his mother, by a bandit. A large multitude of people from around the world were with the mother, crying and praying with her over her lost and endangered son.

When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, "Do not weep." Then He came and touched the heart of the bandit, and the bandit's heart was softened toward the boy. And He said, "Young man, I say to you, do not hurt this child, but return him to his mother." So the bandit turned away from the evil he was plotting, and released the child unharmed. And Jesus presented the child to his mother.

Then amazement came upon all, and they glorified God, saying . . . "God has heard and answered His people." And this report about Him went throughout all of Facebook and the rest of the Internet.

I can't tell you exactly why, but once I had done this whole exercise, I no longer found the story entering my mind whenever I wasn't otherwise occupied. It has been a relief to no longer be obsessively dwelling on it! Obviously I had known that God was at work throughout the whole situation, but somehow it helped to be able to "see" Him there, in person, in my mind.

10 comments:

Patrick McSweney said...

Thanks for sharing. This really caps off the entire incident and clearly helps all of us understand what we all knew internally - that God hears his people's prayers and was actively involved in this for a purpose we don't necessarily understand...at the time...or even much later.

Pam Llewellyn said...

I love this! What a wise and creative activity for your counselor to recommend. I love the way you captured the entire story in just a few paragraphs and put Christ right in the middle of orchestrating and dealing with it all, instead as a bystander watching from the sidelines. :)

Kris Thede said...

So thankful you're having some time to work on and process this experience. Thank you for sharing this method which is new to me...but just read something similar today in a book about Jesus. Lots to think about. He is with us. He does care. Lots to think about..

Lorinda said...

Beautiful! <3

Denise said...

Trish, I'm really glad you shared this here. I know this version is technically NOT scripture - but somehow, put in the context of scripture, it is very powerful.

Cindy said...

Thank you for sharing this, Trish! Is IS very powerful! Praise God for the way He used this activity in your heart and mind!

Unknown said...

Great to be able to put Jesus right in the middle, caring for Ben and caring for you. I like your paraphrase of the biblical story. god bless you.

Anonymous said...

Wow!

stephanie said...

So moving, Trish. I'm so glad it's helped you.

Anonymous said...

This was an amazing idea by your counselor! So glad it helped you. It helps us to remember that Jesus is with us too, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves.