Acts 9 records the miraculous conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. After meeting Jesus, Saul is blinded for a time. He is led into the city, where a believer named Ananias is given a message from God to go to Saul and help him.
Ananias, like any believer, was concerned because this guy Saul was killing, arresting, and persecuting Christians (believers).

God tells Ananias to Go!

In God’s strength, Ananias goes to Saul.

(What happens next, and the first words of Ananias to Saul are PRICELESS!!)
Acts 9:17 records this encounter:
So Ananias departed and entered the house.
And laying his hands on him he said,
“Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

The first thing Ananias did was touch Saul.
This is HUGE! He placed his hand on the man who had the potential to kill him, yet, in God’s strength and trust, he not only came close to him, he reached out and touched him!

The first word Ananias said to Saul:  BROTHER!
This is HUGE! Ananias could have said ANYTHING to Saul, but his very first word spoke love, inclusion, trust. It was relational, familial, and spiritual. By calling Saul a Brother, it said:  You are one of us. I know you know Jesus. We are family!

OH! The power of family!! When we lead girls to the Lord at camp, one of the first things we say to them is YOU ARE NOW MY SISTER!! That word “SISTER” communicates to our girls that we love them, that they are one of us, that together we will go forward, that we’ve got their back, and even if their family life at home isn’t the best, they have a forever family with us in Jesus!

The Power of Family!

Romans 12:5  So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
Romans 15:5-7  Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:  That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.