Untroubled Hearts
"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me." John 14:1 (ESV)
It has become increasingly difficult to carry on a meaningful conversation with my 92 year old Mama. As more and more of Mama's memory slips away from her, more and more of Mama slips away from us too. We no longer have the common interests that we once shared. Mama no longer remembers her grandchildren, our family lake house, or her beloved farm. The great grandchildren who used to bring her such delight, no longer cause her eyes and smile to light up. Most days, I know she recognizes me as someone familiar, but Mama usually can't remember my name, choosing to call me "darlin" or "doll." For whatever reason, perhaps because they share a love of music and stuffed animals, Mama still calls James Bruce "Brucie" and is usually so glad to see him.
Yesterday while visiting Mama, I read her our familiar Psalm 23 passage. It didn't take very long, however, and Mama was awake, fairly alert, and having a pretty good day. Wishing to fill the conversation void and spend some more time with her, I started flipping through her Bible to read other passages that she had marked through the years. Some of the passages such as "Pray without ceasing' (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Philippians 4:4) were not surprising. I read Mama some of the verses that she had marked from days gone by, but time stood still when I came to the John 14 passage. Mama had marked the entire first section of Jesus' words of comfort to his disciples:
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also." (John 14:1-3 ESV)
Somehow while reading these words- "Let not your hearts be troubled"- for Mama, God comforted me. I remembered that the first words that came to my heart and mind with my own Granny's death were the words "Let not your heart be troubled." Daddy's early morning phone call informing me of Granny's death came unexpectedly and Bruce and I were living in another city. As I climbed back into bed after the news, sleep wouldn't come, but God's word of comfort did: "Let not your hearts be troubled."
Years later when my good friend Laura Black died, the words from John 14:1 comforted me again. Laura was a 37 year old wife and mom to three young children when she died of breast cancer. Upon her death, Laura's four year old daughter Caroline asked one of the other moms who was there to get her little Bible from the shelf in her bedroom. Caroline said that her Mama (Laura) had marked a page for her in the small Bible. Opening the little girl's Bible to the marked page, the young mom friend read, "Let not your hearts be troubled." Caroline's Mama was using God's word to strengthen and comfort her young daughter even after her own death. The words from the writer of Hebrews were never truer: "though dead, by her faith she still speaks." (Hebrews 11:4)
Yesterday reading the familiar words to Mama, I was comforted not just by Jesus' words to the disciples as He faced his own death, but by the knowledge that these same words had brought Mama comfort long before her memory began to decline. The marked passage was evidence of Mama's faith as well as evidence to God's previous comfort. As I read them again yesterday, I prayed the familiar words over Mama, just as I've been praying Psalm 23 with her. I prayed that God, by the power of His Word and His Spirit, would penetrate Mama's confusion and memory loss to still bring His comfort, assurance, and presence as she approaches the valley of death. Mama will surely die, but God's Word never will. It is living, active, and sharper than any two edged sword, able to penetrate, not just soul and marrow, but the darkness of memory loss. (Hebrews 4:12)
Wherever we are today, no matter our circumstances, let's take God at His Word and put His Word to work in our own lives.
"Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." (John 14:27)