No Fear In Love
During the Covid epidemic, we were out making safe, home deliveries to elders on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico, who were unable to access food distribution centers for food, water, and hygiene supplies. That’s when we met her. A beautiful Dine’ elder, standing alone in the doorway with a big smile on her face. We all kept a safe distance. Justin and were wearing masks, had been washing our hands and sanitizing all day, and were constantly putting on new gloves for each new delivery. We kept a safe distance for us and for her. But quickly that big smile turned into a quivering chin.
This sweet elder, she was different. She was a precious sister who had lost her husband just five weeks before. COVID had taken him, and the lockdown that followed had sealed her in silence. She hadn’t seen her children. Hadn’t had a hug since the day he died. She was living alone, and she wore it on her face. She was so grateful to see us on her front doorstep, not only because of the food boxes and jugs of fresh water that we brought with us, but because we came with smiles and genuine happiness to see her.
She asked us to come into her laundry room and to place the boxes there on the floor. And she began to share that this was the first visit she had since the Covid outbreak and the loss of her husband. We listened quietly, with simple nods of understanding and empathy, keeping a safe distance as she shared her grief. Her deep loneliness was so evident. She needed human interaction and love. Knowing we had been taking every precaution, I asked if I could offer her what she’d been without and yet needed the most.
A hug.
She nodded and then melted into my arms and wept.
Justin and I prayed with her there in her laundry room. It didn’t matter where we stood. The presence of God was right where He was needed. The Holy Spirit ministered His comfort to her, and I held her until she was ready to let go. Perfect love casts out fear. There was no room for fear that day…just love.
In that moment, medicine wasn’t found in a bottle. It came through just showing up at her front door. Through prayer. Through arms that said, “You are not alone.” This is where Jesus would have been that day. And He was. He really was.
