People Need the Lord
I remember when I used to sing this song back in the 80’s. I also remember the first time I heard it. It affected me profoundly.
Every day they pass me by
I can see it in their eyes
Empty people filled with care
Headed who knows where?
On they go through private pain
Living fear to fear
Laughter hides their silent cries
Only Jesus hears
Refrain
People need the Lord
People need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams
He’s the open door
People need the Lord
People need the Lord
When will we realize
People need the Lord?
We are called to take His light
To a world where wrong seems right
What could be too great a cost
For sharing life with one who’s lost?
Refrain
Have you ever really looked at the faces of people as you pass them by? Every one of those people has a story. Granted – some have lived relatively uneventful lives, void of dark memories leaving deep scars. But I would venture to say that most people have hurtful and painful memories.
My childhood
I was born into a Jewish family. There were four children. I was the youngest of three girls. My earliest memories I pushed so far down inside of me. If they began to surface, I pushed them down harder and harder.
But as I grew older, I realized that not dealing with the pain was destroying me. I hated myself. I never felt I belonged in my family. My mom was exquisitely beautiful, as were my two older sisters. I was not. I was stick thin with buck teeth and frizzy hair; and I was teased mercilessly – not just by my sisters, but also by my dad.
When my dad would make fun of me, I would laugh with him. I wanted him to love me, and I thought that laughing along with him at my ugliness would make him love me more.
Illness as a young child
Are any of your children picky eaters? Well, I certainly was. But I was also a very sickly child. I remember my mother taking me to the hospital and having blood drawn very often.
The dinner table became a battleground. I can still hear my dad: “If you don’t eat that spaghetti, you will wear it!” I would wind up with my face pushed into the spaghetti. My sisters laughed.
My sisters had me believing that I was adopted. They told me that I only needed to look in the mirror to see that I looked like not one of them.
Fast forward to today
After asking for prayer from FB Christian friends, I was reunited with my older sister Sandy. We had such a wonderful year. I went to her home and she spent Christmas with us. Her husband has Alzheimer’s and is in a home.
But to make a very long story short – it was not long before I realized that she was saying the most awful things to her friends and my other sister about me. I thought that she loved me. Oh well, I was used to rejection by this time. But I do miss her very badly.
My father
My father was failing from his diabetes after a surgery. He was getting dementia. My mother had been so upset with him for watching Billy Graham Crusades whenever they were on before he got so sick.
My mother would call me from the hospital and say that Dad was calling for me. He didn’t want to see the other kids – only me. I had witnessed to my dad about Yeshua many times. My sisters became very angry and jealous that Dad only wanted to see me.
On the last night of his life (he was in hospice care), I went to see him after work. There was no one else there. My sister had made the decision that water and food would be withheld from him – only a morphine drip was allowed. The Lord allowed me the privilege of leading my dad to the Throne of Grace that night. After I returned home, I received a call that Dad had passed on. I knew that he was in heaven with Jesus.
Life is hard
When I was saved in 1983, one of the first things that the Lord dealt with was “forgiveness.” I knew that all of those hurts and painful memories that I had pushed down for so many years – I knew that God wanted me to forgive it all. He wanted me to forgive each person in the family. I began praying for them, and it was like a heavy burden had been lifted off of me. I saw them as very lost, and God put a love for each of them in my heart.
Every so often, I will remember something and the pain will begin to resurface. I have to stop and pray for that family member for the bitterness to dissipate. Forgiveness truly is an ongoing process.
Everyone Needs the Lord
My memories seem like nothing compared to others with whom I have spoken. Sexual molestation as children is so prevalent. I was shocked by this. But there are many types of abuse.
There is only One who can deal with our pain – our rejection – all of the things that have happened to us. Yes, there is only One, and His name is Jesus. When we come to Him broken, and feeling like our lives were nothing but a mistake – He speaks to us through His Word. HIS love is TRUE LOVE. I know that He loves me unconditionally, and I want the whole world to know this joy!
“We are called to take His light – to a world where wrong seems right.”
Aren’t we seeing this all around us? Even the laughter we hear is often just hiding a heart filled with hopelessness and pain.
Lord, please help us to really see those around us, and please open doors for us to share with them the greatest gift ever given – the gift of Salvation – the gift of being reconciled to our Father in Heaven through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank You that He paid our sin debt that we could NEVER pay.
Listen to “People Need the Lord”
Shalom b’Yeshua
MARANATHA!
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