If you know me, you know my favorite author, Shauna Niequist. I used to read a chapter in her book, Bittersweet, and not fully understand it. It took me going on the World Race for the Lord to paint me a picture of what she meant.
She writes, “Thin Places: Places where the boundary between the divine world and the human world becomes permeable –thinner if you will, almost nonexistent, and the two, divine and human, can for a moment, dance together interrupted. Some are physical places, and some aren’t places at all, but the states of being or circumstances or seasons.”�
While on the race, I experienced many thin places. Places where God’s presence felt more real, God’s people were richer in faith, and perspectives were shifted to more of God’s sovereignty and hope.
They were found within ministries, homes we shared, and many places and people along the way. And I came to these thin places, sometimes with joy, sometimes with earnest prayers, and sometimes in moments of brokenness and quests for healing.
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People and places such as:
Morong, Sendmi and Jireh’s Children’s Home in India
Brian and all the people we met in the jungle of Nepal
Tuhey, Vee and Agape Mission Center in Vietnam
Thyvenn, Dom and S.O.U.L Cambodia
Man, Suchawadi, and YWAM Khon Kaen, Thailand
Erion and Life in Christ Church in Albania
Good Samaritan Refugee Center in Greece
Eme and Valo and Mission Possible in Bulgaria
Michelle and Sandra Jones Center in Zimbabwe
Unswandelay and AIM in Swaziland
Louis, Erika, Francois, Rusty and BEAM Africa in South Africa
These people let us be a part of something bigger then ourselves and be a part of God’s really big plan. They let us come in, kinda confused and messy, and let us learn under their guidance, wisdom, and grace. And be a part of the good, the divine, and the thin places that they had found.
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The good news is that thin places aren’t just oversees or at ministry sites. I think if we look hard enough, we will be able to find more of the divine fingerprints all around us. And we just so happen to be on the brink of the Christmas season, which for me, is one of the thinnest times of the year.
Because Christmas, even just for a moment, softens the hardest of hearts, focuses the most distracted, and slows the busiest of people. And it brings stories of hope, joy, and gratefulness that the Lord has intricately woven together.
But for some, Christmas seems to remind us a little extra of our brokenness and concentrates a little more on loss.
I know for me, I’m feeling a little broken with the end of the World Race, end of geographically close community, and the end of a relationship that I cared deeply about, thus ending a few dreams in the midst.
I know for others, they might be feeling the loss of a life or a job or a home, or even a relationship and a dream too.
Lucky for us, God does some of His best work in our lives during times of great brokenness and loss.
And I think it is no accident that some of us feel like we need mended with Christmas approaching.
We get to experience the anticipation of healing and redemption in the same season where the whole world is remembering awaiting the Savior of the World to be born. In the same was Jesus repairs what was broken, filled what was empty, and found what was lost, that can be OUR story too if we believe in His goodness and sovereignty in this season.
