two Godly families we know are going through an extremely hard time right now ~ struggling with a tangled mess of betrayal, lies, shame, and brokenness.

good people that God loves tremendously. they just let sin get the best of them, not realizing its potential to destroy them. but when we encounter this, we need to remember to keep our mouths shut to those around us (this is also a reminder to myself) resisting the temptation to gossip… and to keep our mouths open to God, on their behalf.

those caught in sin probably don’t feel right about, or worthy of praying, and those 1st-hand affected by it are probably so hurt that they can’t even put into words what to pray.

i think that when people we know are going through such a difficult time, we as their brothers and sisters are to stand in the silent gap. we need to be stopping conversations that tear them down. it’s not worth a thing to say, “oh, that’s too bad that’s happening”…”so, what are we doin’ tonight? i don’t want to stay in the house…” no. that’s not good enough. as we drive, as we cook, as we put our children down, as we clean, shop, walk, shower…we need to lift them up to God. our collective prayers may be the catalyst needed to win this particular spiritual battle once and for all. our collective prayers may bring the power to restore two families.

and we get a *bonus* ~ our prayers have this affect of loosening our hands of the grip we have on our “stones”, keeping our judgmental nature at bay. they realign our perspective, remind us of the grace that we’ve been given, convict us to keep our mouths shut, & help us to grow in the grace and nature of Jesus Christ.

When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you? “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”