In praying for a young lady one Saturday evening, I received a picture I did not immediately understand. It was a picture of quicksand and a passenger airplane on top of it, which soon sank into the quicksand and disappeared. By then I knew I could ask God for a different picture to help me understand what He was attempting to communicate to me. The next picture did not help me either. It was a flower in a flower pot on quicksand, also disappearing. "Hmm! I need yet another picture to help me, Lord!" I silently pleaded. 

Finally, the third picture brought it all together for me. It was a picture of the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 that was lost after takeoff, March 8, 2014 (never to be found again). Immediately I felt the emotions of sadness and grief of the relatives and loved ones who were waiting to hear what had happened to this flight. I felt the sense that these people's lives would be put on hold, as it turns out, for many years, by not knowing what had happened. Was the plane hijacked? Where the passengers and flight crew still alive? Or had the plane crashed and sunk into the ocean? The image of this tragedy was God's way to alert me of loss. I knew then that instead of forging ahead to share what I felt from God, I should ask instead, to make sure I was in the ballpark - though I was very sure I was. 

"Have you experienced any loss recently?" Sure enough this young lady responded with no hesitation, "I lost my aunt. I was close to her..." after a short pause she added with sadness, "but I did not get to say goodbye!" This last statement assured me God was addressing this need to bring closure to a situation that may have put this person's life on hold for an extended period, just like it did for the loved ones of those in the disappearing Malaysian Airlines flight. They were not able to move on in life to try to put the pieces together of what is left, in the passing of their loved ones. There was unsettled business (What happened to the plane? Were it's passengers dead or alive?) that did not allow for full grieving and healing.  

I shared what God had communicated to me about her situation, through pictures and even through my emotions with the Malaysian Airlines lost flight. I asked if we could pray for God to release closure for her and she agreed. By closure I am not talking about the grieving process coming to a close, but rather a new freedom to engage in it. This person had found herself unable to fully immerse herself in grieving such a great loss because there was unsettled business, one that could never be settled with this person because she is forever gone. We, our team of three, then prayed with confidence and boldness, thanks to this confirmed revelation, for God to bring a creative closure to this situation, in His timing and in His way. 

The fact is God knows our loss and our need to grieve, and He also knows that in the passing of loved ones, we may not always get to properly say our goodbyes and final words to these people who have impacted our lives so powerfully. God was stepping in to help this young lady in this delicate, painful, and tender process. We knew not how God would bring some kind of tangible way for this person to wrap things up and be released to engage in the grieving, healing process; how He would act to speed up the healing process, settle what was unsettled, and free her up for what God had for her (her future). We just knew God had this precious person in mind, and was stepping in to release His power and healing for a new beginning. And we, with our limited knowledge and experiences, became instruments used by God to speak into and pray forth what God was now doing in this person's life. All this because we made ourselves available for God to speak and use even our imaginations to capture His thoughts and emotions.