GUEST POST- Beautiful Feet

Today is my first ever guest post! Welcome Jenny! She and I met at the She Speaks Conference this summer. I was greatly encouraged by her story and you will be too! I asked her to share some of the ways she and her family were cared for during their darkest days. Please check out Jenny over at her blog or her website.

Beautiful Feet

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'"  Isaiah 52:7

How beautiful the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who say to us, “Remember, your God reigns!” Ever needed comfort from such a messenger? I have.

Six years ago this summer my husband and I gave birth to identical-twin girls—fourteen weeks premature. As a result of complications from Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) one of my identical-twin daughters spent a total of eighty-nine days in neonatal intensive care before arriving home. Sadly, my other twin daughter passed away in my arms after just twenty-eight days. Though I knew I should cast my cares upon the Lord, the burden of watching my children suffer proved too heavy a burden to lift alone. That's when God sent to my husband and me messengers with oh-so-beautiful feet.

Shortly after our daughters' premature arrival the phone in my hospital room began to ring continuously. Most offered their condolences. Some tried to encourage us with words. But God caused the feet of one couple, friends of ours since college, to travel forty-five minutes so that they could simply sit with us in the waiting room. Few words were exchanged—they realized there really were no words to speak. Only tears. Tears of sympathy. Tears of love. Compassion lived-out by messengers with beautiful feet.

While our daughters were in the hospital one of my friends and co-workers arranged to have meals prepared for my husband and me three times a week. Having food delivered meant someone would need to be at home to receive the meals. My husband and I spent every waking moment at the hospital with our girls. To relieve any pressure of us needing to be home each night by a certain time, my friend borrowed our house key. For three months she collected at work food from colleagues willing to contribute, and each night delivered the offerings to our kitchen counter. Three times a week my husband and I arrived home to find left behind the footprints of beautiful feet.

After our surviving twin daughter arrived home from the hospital doctors all but forbid us of exposing  our daughter to public places on account of her weak immune system and highly underdeveloped lungs. One friend realized this “house-arrest” eliminated the possibility of professional photo shoots to document our precious little one's first year of development. Instead, this friend arranged for a professional photographer—one whom agreed to our doctor's prescribed method of decontamination before arriving to our home—to come with beautiful feet. The joy of a professional photography session allowed us to experience a bit of “normalcy” during an otherwise turbulent season of our lives.

There were my husband's co-workers and our neighbors who's feet stood willing to mow our lawn. There was the neighbor who's feet led her, and the feet of her three small children, to pull weeds in our flowerbeds. There were the feet of a friend who, after my twin daughter passed away, exchanged my double-stroller for a single stroller, as that proved too difficult a task for this mama to complete.

And then there were the feet of the messengers who brought our family before the throne of grace at a time when we felt to crippled to carry ourselves. These messengers remind me of the faithful friends in Mark 2. Consumed by love and compassion, four friends placed at the feet of Jesus a friend so crippled he could not walk. Scripture says that on account of the faith of the friends Jesus chose to heal the crippled man. As friends we can never pray the salvation of another. But we can pray that God moves and acts in the life of a friend in such a way that they come to know Him as Healer, as Savior, as Lord.

At a time when the Lanier family faces a most difficult hospital stay may God use our feet to bring a beautiful message of hope, love, comfort and faith to this beloved family.