A large envelope arrived in the mail Friday. Inside was a certificate for third place in a national contest. Someone had entered my work and sent me the results. Accompanying the certificate was a small handwritten note from the woman who had entered me. She thanked me for working with her and congratulated me for the award.
It was both humbling and encouraging, and indicative of my new life. Two days later I heard Pastor Liz express this experience as breathing in the Spirit. Liz hadn’t heard my story. She didn’t need to…Ezekiel had described it. With Ezekiel’s words Liz told my story about getting the wind knocked out of us, and how the spirit eventually breathes new life into our lifeless frame.
Ezekiel tells the story with grit. “Dry bones,…this is what the Lord says…I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin…Then you will know that I am the Lord.”
Nine months earlier I had gotten the wind knocked out of me when I lost my job. I knew I was in a lot of good company during an economic downturn. Nonetheless it was isolating and embarrassing. Keeping company with a lot of dry bones never felt very life-giving—except when the spirit changed the wind now and then. That’s what my unmet friend had done with the contest. She was complicit with her co-worker who had published my work soon after I lost my permanent job. Neither of them knew me, and they innocently took my work, placed it in their magazine, and gave me my first deep breath in awhile.
Five more months passed between that first hopeful breath and a full time job. In the interim I encountered other precious gasps of air, and what I see now as the Spirit fleshing out new life.
The employment group at Shepherd of the Hills offered fresh air with insightful professional growth workshops. Spirit in the Hills gave me tasks that answered both our prayers. My First English spiritual director guided me to nourishing books, people and places that allowed me to breathe in new ways. A horse stable became my outdoor sanctuary where handicapped riders, their families and their horses held onto hope and shared the reins with me.
When I became unnecessarily dramatic, my family sometimes breathed for me. Other times they had to let me sit lifeless and allow the Spirit speak to me alone.
In the end, my life was recreated by the Spirit. My family, friends, churches, old and new, listened, talked, sat, walked, worked and played with me until 100 resumes, applications, cold calls and recalls later, the chance to work full time again materialized.
That envelope on Friday delivered these memories afresh.
Liz and Ezekiel made me grateful again for my new life revived from some bone dry times. And I’m thankful for all The the Ezekiels sent into my life gifted with seeing the Spirit in motion when I couldn’t.
The Long View is Pastor Liz’s mid-week observation of our regular stories, and how they may show the Spirit at work. This week’s guest post was written by a blessed Spirit in the Hills mission follower.
