We Got Mirtled
Chris called me with a chuckle in his voice when he arrived at the church men's retreat to tell me he was bunking with Ted Mirtle. "TED'S MY MAN!"
Ted and Margaret Mirtle have been married for 58 years. Their hands and hearts are softened from years of praying together. We look forward to seeing their ever-bright smiles each Sunday morning for church.
My last blog was raw and vulnerable. I didn't write it to publish, but to lament. Finally, after a week of ignoring a nudging from God to share it, I posted on a Saturday. The next morning my exposed heart would stand in front of our church as a leader.
I arrived at church the next day knowing that the whole Internet, including many people I would interact with that morning, had access to my insides. They might think of me differently. They might give me the sympathy face or bless my heart. Or they might think I was just over-reacting.
Already, Sundays are a whole different animal that they were before - with a baby bouncing on one hip and with a three-year old autistic son trying to manage the stimulation and the unavoidable attention of being the pastors' kid. Now allllll my cards were showing.
One of my first encounters of the morning was with Ted and Margaret Mirtle. They are just two small people, but they walked straight up to me and completely surrounded me in an instant. They held my hands, looked into my eyes, and said, "Kacy, we sat and prayed for you yesterday." I know they did. Because I could feel it.
Over and over that morning, warm faces, authentic love and genuine care wrapped around me. The church was there being the church. They didn't care that I was a leader or that my kid had to stay tucked away in the children's space because all of their kindness would lead to a full-on meltdown.
Ted and Margaret Mirtle surrounded me in such a profound way that it held me. I could almost physically feel myself and my family being held with supernatural strength. It wasn't just the Mirtles. It was family after family, story after story in the church. It was a group of people around the world who read, reach out, pray and love. It was YOU too!
Sundays afternoons are often very difficult for Benjamin (and therefore the rest of us) after such a highly stimulating morning. But on that Sunday when we got Mirtled, I loaded up the car and took the boys to the beach with a friend. I haven't had the courage to do that in months with all of the unknowns that could happen in public. We went to the BEACH. With so many uncontrolled variables! And we had A BLAST!
Those love-softened Mirtle holding hands.
The church that surrounds you, no matter what you feel like is closing in on you.
The warriors praying around the world.
We were held. We went to the beach. We laughed and played. And something got light in me. When the beach bliss wore off and the hard stuff came back, the lightness stayed too.
Pray for your people. Surround them when they feel surrounded. MIRTLE THEM. Trust me, it is life-changing - especially when circumstances aren't changing.
