A Surprising Gift from the Sky

Brenda Wallace and I were meeting in her office when she abruptly stood up and said, “Some balloons just fell out of the sky.” We hurried down the stairs and opened the front door. On the welcome mat, a balloon bouquet waited for us – regular helium balloons and football-shaped balloons. These accoutrements of revelry broke free from someone’s celebration and drifted over to Well of Mercy. Was it a championship celebration? Or maybe a birthday celebration? Or a retiring coach’s celebration? Whatever their origin, these remnants from someone else’s celebration found a resting place here.

Remnants Along the Trail

When I walk our prayer trails, I wonder about the guests who walked before me. How many celebrations have they dropped along the way as they strolled these paths with God? Or, how many bottled-up tears have been released into the creek and swim silently beside us? How many resentments have been abandoned and are pressed into the dirt with each step we take? In short, what remnants have been left in the wake of all the prayers that drop in and out of this sacred place called Well of Mercy? Those remnants come together like a grandmother’s quilt giving each soul a soft place to land – if only for a few restful days.

A Unique Community

That makes us a unique community. While our guest list changes each week, we are in fellowship with each other. We do not have to be together to BE together. We don’t have to know each other to KNOW each other. Our joys and our sorrows, our prayers and our longings, oh, these join forces and tie us together like that balloon bouquet. When you pray your joys, those joys celebrate with all the other joys that came before you. When you leave tears in our dirt, those tears find kinship with all the others that have fallen before you. Walking with God happens here—in quiet, in celebration, in sorrow, and in unity. Well of Mercy is a place that unites us in our quest to walk with God.

A Spiritual Home

Spiritual homes are built in many ways – sometimes by gathering regularly, sometimes by shared service, and sometimes by leaving our earnest prayers to accompany others as they walk with God. Whether you are celebrating or grieving or just trudging along, come visit. You never know what might drop out of the heavens and welcome you home.

Lea Slaton
Executive Director