Anointed


Happy Monday! Today is the last Monday of the school year. I am still counting down...

I have thought and thought about whether or not to post about a very profound part of my family's week last week. Jack was my example to share what happened. I will get back to what he did in a bit.

Last Wednesday night, after church, our family, Tom and Elaine, along with a very dear friend, who is an elder's wife and their son, went to the elder's room. I had spoken to our elder regarding bringing Jack in to be anointed with oil in the name of the Lord, and prayed over. I think that it is hard for me to talk or write about this night because it seemed so intensely personal and sacred, but it was so special I want to share it with you.

We all walked into the elders room together with the large group of men waiting. I think we have about 20 elders. They seated us and asked us to give them an update on Jack and what has been happening health wise and life wise too. After we talked with them for about 5 minutes, one of the elder's asked Jack to sit in a chair in the center of the room, he sat in a chair right across from Jack, so he could talk to Jack face to face. He read Jack the scripture from James 5 referring to the anointing of oil, and made Jack feel so comfortable with this process. This elder then went on to show Jack a piece of paper that he had hanging in the middle of his mirror that had Jack's name penciled in, and Sophie's along with another boy from our congregation typed in. This elder had been given Sophie and the other boy to pray for them 2 years ago. When Jack got sick he penciled Jack's name on the list. He hung that paper in the middle of his bathroom mirror, so when he shaves in the morning it is the first thing he see's and actually has to move his head around it to see his own face to shave. He showed Jack the paper and shared that story with him. Jack's eyes were huge at this point. You could tell that he just felt the love of this elder and the love of all the elders in the room.
At that point the elder showed Jack the bottle of oil you see in the picture and told him he was going to pour it on his head and that all the elders were going to put their hands on him and would say a prayer for him. He poured some oil on Jack's head and rubbed it around a bit, then started the most humbling, amazing, spirit filled,...prayer chain that went through each elder. I looked around the room as the men were praying for Jack asking for God to heal him, bless him, give us all strength....you could have cut the love with a knife, I have never had a spiritual moment like that before, and I have had some blessed moments with the Lord where His presence is apparent, but they were not like this. I just felt the Lord, I felt like the air that I took in each breath was filled with the aroma of prayer and love, love from our family, the elders and the Lord's presence.

Earlier that morning when I was reading James 5 to Jack, Derek and Sophie, explaining to them what was going to happen at church that night, Jack's only request was that I not cry. He does not like me to cry, talk about unrealistic expectations for such an emotional person as myself.
I did not cry but there were tears to be wiped that night, off the cheeks of men, women and children.
I am grateful that we have such a humble group of men who love Jesus and do their very best to shepherd our flock.

The next morning I asked Jack what he had thought about the night after he had some time to think about it. He said that it made his heart feel good. Then he said, I told you not to cry, I said that I didn't, and he said, "I know, but I almost did, I had to wipe my eyes."
The tears almost came when I looked down at Jack during the prayer and the first thing that I noticed was Derek's hand on Jack's scar on the back of his head, and Sophie's hand laying on Jack's arm, that touched me and I hope that when I close my eyes and think about that moment I will never forget the love of Jack's siblings for him and the gentleness that they touched him with that night.

I have shared what I believe to be intensely personal information about my walk with the Lord with the readers of this blog because I feel so strongly that it is through our weaknesses that the Lord is glorified in our lives because of the evidence of mercy and grace He so freely gives, and the transformation of heart. So I am not sure why it has taken me almost a week to talk openly about this night, but Jack told me he was going to take the anointing oil, that the elders have given him to remember the prayer time that night, to school and tell his friends about the prayer time and show them the oil during their regular "share time" on Friday morning. Jack was so imprinted with that experience that he wanted to share it with his friends. And his friends were thrilled to hear about it, some had even seen anointings before and told him their experiences, wow. So the tears have now come as I humble myself before the Lord and open my heart like Jack so gladly opens his.

Thank you our Almighty God for your mercy and grace, may I recognize and take hold of the peace you so gladly offer, may I allow you to take this broken vessell and do your work, may I know that I have victory through You. In your precious and mighty Son's name, Amen.

Comments

Sarah said…
That is a precious, intensely personal experience. Thank you for letting us take a peek -- and I'm glad Jack isn't here to see me reading! :-)
Anonymous said…
Thank you for sharing this moment with all of us. We certainly do have an exceptional group of shepherds who sincerely care for us and are willing to give of themselves in many ways to help us on our spiritual journey. Aren't the lessons we learn from our children priceless? It would have been fun to be a fly on the wall when Jack was relating his special evening to his classmates.
Jessica said…
Thank you for sharing this moment with us.
Cathy Messecar said…
Tammy,

You let us into your heart and into the room with your shepherds. I am anointed by your willingness to share, once again, your family's story. Your words wash over me like a cleansing rain.

Cathy Messecar
Anonymous said…
Thanks you for permitting us to participate in this intimate spiritual experience. This is humbling.....

We love y'all and will see you soon!

Tom and Dixie--your Beaumont family
Unknown said…
I don't know how you did it without crying. Just from READING about that night, I'm balling. How precious your children are.
Anonymous said…
Thank you for sharing. The elders at SHCC are great men and I am not at all surprised to hear this story. We miss them and you and all at the church. I think we have all been annointed by your sharing.
Unknown said…
Thank you so much for sharing such a special time with all of us. You continue to bless us with your words and the life you are living. You'll have to let me know how you were able to "not cry". I don't think I will ever master that one!
Love ya, Connie
SuperMom said…
I am weeping.

Thank you for sharing such a beautiful, tender moment with us.

You, Jack and your family are in my prayers tonight.
Grafted Branch said…
I, too, am so blessed that you shared that with us. God is glorified!

Tumorous cancer of the brain touched our extended family nearly 20 years ago, so I WILL remember and pray for your Jack.

God bless you all.
Anonymous said…
Thanks so much for so eloquently sharing a deeply personal and moving experience for you and your family.
As an elder myself, I have been involved in such a ceremony and I can attest to what a profound privilege it is to serve someone at a time like this. I actually wish more people felt comfortable enough to ask for annointing.
You should know that Mignon and I pray for your family regularly.
Anonymous said…
I'm so blessing for having stopped by your blog to read this post! I'm here via your link on Lysa's blog.

What an awesome testimony! I see in your sidebar that Jack received a miracle! PRAISE GOD!

This is beautiful!

I, too, have a Sophie. She is the youngest of my three daughters (just turned two), a tubal-reversal miracle, and the topic of one of my two post submitted via Lysa's blog.

Hope you'll come by and visit. Off to browse your blog a bit...

Rena Gunther

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