A Coffee Filter in Her Pocket

Sitting across the table from my friend I simply listened as she told me how she was dealing with the sorrows she was facing. She had provided care during the last days of her mother's life. It is a heartbreaking thing to see your mother die but at this time of great vulnerability she was also hit by wave after wave of crisis.

She wore no mask to hide the pain she had endured and at times it was hard for me to see the hurt in my friend's eyes. She wasn't trying to pretend that she didn't feel the crushing weight of her circumstances or that she wasn't perplexed by the tempestuous storm that raged around her. She sat before me vulnerable yet invincible at the same time.

Her voice broke at times because of the grief in her heart yet her words were full of courage. She smiled and told me how she carried a coffee filter in her pocket. She laughed a little when she saw the confused expression on my face and then she went on to explain how she used it to remind her to filter everything that came into her life through the truth of who God is. The truth that though she was weak He was strong and that He had promised to never leave her or forsake her. The truth that though the storms were raging in her life that God is still the Lord of the Storm.

"God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies."( 2 Corinthians 4:6-10)

Lord Jesus, thank you for giving me a friend in whom I can see Your light shining. Thank You that filtered through Your love even our greatest griefs and sorrows hold the promise of redemption.