Face to face with Jesus...The face of love.

I was so blessed to have Troy and Martina come worship in my home with a few of us gathered last night. Worship was wonderful, but the prayer that followed was truly God coming down into my little home. This is my lame attempt to describe the awesomeness of Gods power and revealing himself to me. Through a dear friend...

As I stared into his right eye, my vision started to blur. Surely my eyes were dry from not blinking. I blinked, but they continued to blur, his face dissapeared into the blurry, fuzzy background. A dim fuzzy outline where his face so clearly was a few moments before. I blinked again, insisting my eyes clear up the blurry focus. My eyes werent dry, in fact I began blinking less because they were moist, and his right eye was perfectly in focus. Something inside of me said 'let it blur' so I did. I let go of the control and let his face continue to dissapear. The only thing in focus was his right eye. I continued to stare into the depths of his eye, more intently focused, waiting for something, anything to appear. An image seemed to be trying to press to the surface. First, beneath his right eye appeared a scar, from the bottom of his eye trailing down his cheek and back toward the bottom of his right ear. It was frightening, and I looked away. But I couldnt, I had to look again, I had to continue the gaze into his eyes, there was more, and I knew it. It was beyond anything I had ever experienced in my life. As I resumed my gaze, his face blurred, quickly this time. And the tender, loving eye came back into focus. First the scar on his right cheek trailing from his eye to his ear. Then the rest of his face appeared. It seemed to jump out from beyond the blurry background, both eyes clear as could be, and a face so ripped and torn with scars. Beyond recognition. A face I had never seen before in such a real way. It looked as if the entire left side of his face had been burned, and scarred. But inside, I knew they were the scars from the beatings he endured. It says in the bible that he was beaten beyond recognition... He said to me, with kindness in his eyes. "This is the face of love." I couldn't continue to look, it was too painful. I had to look away, and began to cry... When I opened my eyes again, my vision was no longer blurred. And the face of the man who had sat before me, was still there. It was like I was shot back into reality. It felt like it had all happened in an instant. In that time, Troy's face was blurred, Jesus and I were face to face. I encountered him, more real than ever before. Almost as if I could have reached out and touched him. It was incredible, and really not describable. His eyes, were full of love and compassion, full of mercy and grace. He revealed himself to me in that moment. I saw the face of Jesus. The face of love. The face of compassion. The face of mercy. The face of concern. The face of conviction. The face of encouragement. The face of pain. The face of love. Love for me, and for the people He died for.

I'm afraid these words are empty compared to the encounter I had face to face with Jesus. It feels hollow compared to the image that lingers in my mind. However, its the best I could do with our weak language to give even a 1/4 of an idea of the image I saw....It was so much more. I looked into the eyes of Jesus. It was a beautiful experience, and I am blessed that He chose that moment to show me his face. So real, and beyond comparison or description. We truly serve a wonderful and magnificent God. One who longs to be with us, one who desires us more than any human could. He truly walks with us here on earth, and I think, last night was the beginning of an amazing journey He has called me to, as my faith has been increased. God is so good!