for a runaway teenager

"Imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbors: 'Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' Count on it—that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God." Luke 15:8-10 (The Message)

When I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:4-6 (New Living Translation)

I don't know what this young woman is struggling with, this one who has disappeared into the streets of an unforgiving city. I don't know what things in her have been broken, or what she suffers. I only know that she does suffer.

I don't like thinking of her as "lost" particularly, as if she somehow wandered off course or was treated negligently and mislaid. Rather, she ran away. I expect there may be anger and resentment, and an unwillingness to continue under the conditions in which she found herself. Maybe she thought anything was better than that. Maybe anything was.

So I find myself seeking words with which to make my request, El Shaddai, all-sufficient one, on behalf of this young woman who is the niece of my friend. I know you seek her, but I don't know if, like a coin, she waits passively to be found. Nonetheless, be close beside her with your biggest, scariest-looking staff -- keep the dogs at bay, and give her your protection. Find a way to feed her, even in the midst of her enemies. I beg blessings on her behalf, blessings she never expects, blessings to bring her life and sanctuary. Pursue her with your relentless love, your unfailing compassion. Every day, love her.

sanctuary

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Psalm 46:4-5 (NIV)

In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the Temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side. The man brought me outside the wall through the north gateway and led me around to the eastern entrance. There I could see the water flowing out through the south side of the east gateway. Ezekiel 47:1-2 (NLT)

Jehovah-Rophe, God of Healing, I come bruised to your sacred haunt, your holy river. Behind me, mountains fall into the heart of the sea, making her waters roar and foam. Before me, your peace descends within the sanctuary. In the stillness I know you, and you are lifted up. I abide in the silence, looking eastward to the new day.