Tears of Remorse

On the 1st of November, a brother gave a surprise and impromptu visit. As he sat in the living room and I was next to him, I gave him the liberty to speak and pour out whatever he wanted to pour out. For sure, he came with a definite purpose. Meanwhile, I also felt the need immediately to not handle him alone. So, I invited another two brothers to join with me in the fellowship. Thank God that two brothers were one with me, sitting with me as we listened to this brother.

By the way, this new brother was a little intoxicated as it was evident from his facial expression and the smell from his bodily presence. His family was gained about a decade ago while they were in DLF-1. Later, they shifted to New Delhi and we lost touch as they left the fellowship and decided not to receive our calls or shepherding visits anymore. Due to many reasons, mostly their family matters, and their unwillingness to take the fellowship, they took their own way against my personal and brotherly fellowship to them before they left. Since then, they have been completely out of touch. This is also a lesson that I am yet to learn a complete lesson on shepherding. May the Lord forgive me for my shortage in not being able to shepherd this family. 

As this brother started narrating his ordeals, he started weeping and weeping. He could not even speak properly as he wept and wept in front of us. At one point, he even came and tried to kneel down before me which I objected sternly. But I encouraged him to release what was in his heart. Finally, he slowly calmed down and narrated all the tragedies his family has been going through since the time they left the church life. These are his own words, I paraphrased it. 

"Brother, from the time we left the church life, everything went downhill. Now, we have come to the bottom of the pit. Though we have everything, we actually have nothing. I want to come back to the church. Please forgive me and accept me." 

I immediately comforted him and encouraged him that they could come back anytime and that they were welcome always. In fact, I proposed that we also visit his family provided that they are willing for us to visit as his wife objected to our visit and never shared their address in the past. He also mentioned that his wife was diagnosed with a third-stage breast cancer. As he described the situation, he wept again saying that everything was over. But I encouraged him by telling him that the Lord still loves them, the church still loves them, and we still love them. Then, we prayed for him and his family. He also prayed after we prayed.  

I brought this matter to the brothers' fellowship of the church and we prayed for this family that the Lord would recover them back. He had come and shed tears of remorse. Our door is always open to whoever is willing to come for fellowship. 

Lord, fully recover our brother's family.