Broadening my Territory

The first time I recited it to her was the first time I had a moment alone with her. Eva wasn’t conscious and the swelling of her brain continued to increase. I was overwhelmed with everything, including my love for her. It was the 3rd day after Eva’s accident. As I sat with her, it became vitally important that I speak life into her, life from scripture. So I spoke the first verse that came to mind. “God, who began a good work in you, will be faithful to complete it.” I said it over and over to her and have continued to say it each time I’m with her. And being that it’s been four years, she has heard me say this Bible verse at least (minus assundry vacation and sick days) 1,400 times. At about the one year mark, she began to respond to it and still does each time I begin. She opens her eyes or widens them and/or raises her eyebrows. All in anticipation of hearing her verse.

After spending about 10 days in the hospital, Eva came home last Monday. It’s always a relief and pure joy to have her home. She was admitted because her oxygen levels were a concern. And even though she’s home, it’s still been a bit of a challenge to manage. She’s, at times, connected to a monitor that flashes her oxygen intake as well as alerts us if her oxygen goes below a certain level.

The machine was on Thursday night. I had already said our verse but, throughout our time, there was the occasional beeping in the background. I turned to her, at one point, and said, “Let’s say our verse again. God, who began a good work…”

I stopped. I didn’t finish. Instead I looked at her and asked the question. “What good work IS God doing in you?” I asked the question not out of anger or resentment or even doubt. I asked because, in that moment, I wondered if I truly knew the answer.

I have been praying this verse over people for most of my adult life. It’s a verse filled with promise and hope as I have prayed for people who were in need of healing, help, the strength to overcome, etc. In this verse, Paul promises that God is at work and that God is faithful. What better verse to pray over people?

But now, as I was looking at Eva, hearing the beeping in the background, I wondered if I had gotten it all, or partially, wrong. Had I missed the mark? Had I been narrowing God’s work in her, seeing only what I wanted (which was healing) and not what He was truly doing?

When I look at the verse in context, I learn that Paul was encouraging the Philippians to have confidence that God was working faithfully in them as they shared the gospel and as they strived to live this new life as a Christ follower. A lot going on in their lives. All of which is now causing a shift in my life and perspective.

It got me thinking about Jabez in his prayer in I Chronicles. He asks God to bless him and enlarge his territory. All to say, as I sit here now, I believe that God is calling me to broaden my territory when I pray this verse over Eva. To recognize that she is so much more than a brain injury (as I am so much more than a 70 year old). Of course, He, like me, wants her healing. But he wants more for her. He wants more than the obvious. For her. And for others that pray for.

I’m going to be with Eva tonight - since this new revelation - and I’m pretty eager. I want to begin my time with her, from now on, saying, “Eva, what do you say we broaden our territory as we say our Bible verse together. Are you ready? God who began a good work in you…”

I gotta tell ya, there’s a sense of anticipation as I wait and trust in God to continue to do his good work in her. In me. And in all of us. Broadening my territory as I pray.

One last note. I’m not able to include a video on this site so I’m going to post it. It’s Eva “saying” the verse along with me. I’ll explain it in the post. It was an incredible moment that I’d like you to see and, hopefully, be blessed by.