Redemptive Gift of Mercy
Kim Meeder is a good example of the Redemptive Gift of Mercy
Kim had a tough childhood. Her father went “over the edge” mentally and killed her mother, then himself.
With the loss of her parents, her grandparents took her in. They had a lot of land and horses who brought much therapy to Kim.
After Kim grew up, she began to rescue abused horses. She has some incredible stories of nursing horses back to life that were on the brink of death.
However, she didn’t stop there. She began taking in children from abused families and pairing them with the horses she’d rescued. Both horse and child would find healing in the process. Kim understood that it was not always necessary to say things, instruct, or correct. She understood how even presence can heal.
Jehovah Shammah
This final, seventh name of Jehovah comes from Ezekiel 48. It means “the Lord is present.” This is the ultimate drive of God’s heart. To be with us. God sacrificed His own son — Immanuel — to realize this. Jesus came and lived among us, which gave Him the unique ability to understand and empathize with us right where we are.
What makes a Mercy tick?
Drive – Empathy, ambiance, alignment. Mercies are uniquely attuned to God’s Spirit. They grasp the concept of the whole package of God’s presence, God’s truth, and God’s heart all coming together. This has many applications. A mercy will make sure no one gets hurt. They will also likely make sure there’s an ambiance of decor and peace that provides inspiration and tranquility.
The characteristics of mercy flow from this drive:
- A safe place for wounded people
- Empathetic, non-judgmental
- Craves intimacy
- Intuitive
- Loves beauty
- Stubborn in the nicest sort of way
Strength – Knowing God’s heart, empathic connection with other people. Mercies are “feelers” — they feel deeply and have compassion. In a crowd of people, they instinctively know who may be hurting or wounded. They have the patience to just sit there and not need to say a word. Their sensitivity to the spiritual realm and their surroundings is great. Servants have this similar “atmospheric” sense, but it’s different.
Weakness – Not receiving love and acceptance. Because mercies feel deeply and other gifts do not, sometimes they don’t feel connected, and may feel “needy” to people they’re close with, seeking affection or attention excessively. They love people but sometimes in the midst of their “compassion” they cannot enforce boundaries, and can make judgements based more on emotions rather than wisdom.
Wrap Up
Mercies have to come to rest in the Father’s love, perhaps more than any other gift. There’s such a drive for intimate, heart connection, yet many people don’t want that, or aren’t healed enough for that. A mercy has to be healed beyond taking that personally.
Mercies are natural burden bearers of other people’s pain and don’t always know when to lay that on the altar.
A mercy cannot be a man pleaser nor live for self-gratification. They must connect with God by faith and use their alignment/ambiance/empathy gift as God authorizes in order to draw a fallen culture into God’s presence and love.
