Sun, 24 September 2017
I want to share with you the story of a beautiful young woman named Lauryn Lax. She is a doctor and nutritionist. Her mission is to help people struggling with eating disorders and similar issues.
I’ll pick up her story several years ago when she was in her 20s. She was a fitness fanatic. She fixated on her weight. She worked out at the local YMCA every day for hours at a time. She ate little to nothing.
Her friends at the gym took note of the remarkable intensity and consistency of her workouts. She was growing alarmingly slender. They began to worry about her well-being.
They decided that they would intervene. One morning they agreed to get to the gym parking lot before daylight. They saw her park her car. They converged around it.
What they did not know is that Lauryn had prayed that morning for help. When she weighed herself at 4 am, she tipped the scales at 79 pounds. She knew it wasn’t healthy. These friends were to be the answer to her prayers.
They gently and lovingly insisted that she go to the hospital. She resisted at first but reluctantly yielded to them. Upon examination, doctors discovered that her heart rate was in the 30s. She was in ICU for 3 days then the cardiac unit for 3 weeks. For a while it looked like she might have to have a pace maker installed due to heart damage from the anorexia.
But God was gracious. For a year she worked her way back to a healthier place. She pursued her studies with a new zeal and vision to help others. She now has a story of help and healing that is benefitting others.
She attributes the positive turn in her life to these friends. She calls them her “angels.” They loved her enough to confront her—painful though it must have been for all involved. She was blessed to have friends like these that risked their own comfort to confront Lauryn. We all need friends like these and we need to be friends like these.
God’s word calls us to this kind of friendship. Proverbs 27:5-6 says, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.”
In this message we will learn that faithful wounds hurt, help, and, ultimately, heal.
Proverbs: Ancient Wisdom for Modern Days “Faithful Wounds”
“Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” (Proverbs 27:5-6).
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