My wife met me at the local grocery store this afternoon after work. It's right in front of the West Salem transfer station for the public bus system, which I happen to use everyday. We needed a couple of small things and it was raining outside, so she was kind enough to pick me up.
Once inside, we gathered the needed supplies and my wife mentioned that there was a woman she'd seen at a nearby street corner, whom was holding a sign that read "Anything Helps". My wife spent some time explaining the look on the woman's face and the pain and humiliation she must've felt. Evidently, she had been seen on this same corner before, and had been there in the elements for at least a couple of hours today. The Holy Spirit prompted my wife to help her out.
As we drove up the street toward our home, we looked for the woman, only to find that she'd disappeared. We drove up and down the street and prayed aloud; asking for the Lord to prompt her to come back outside, or otherwise make herself apparent to us. Alas, after driving all through the Edgewater district and looping back around toward home, we never saw her.
Why didn't we make a divine connection? Perhaps God was checking the condition of our hearts, to see if we were willing to reach out. In all honesty, my wife was gung ho- from the beginning, while I worried for a minute or two about how we'd buy groceries for someone, when we barely had enough in the bank to cover our own needs. Then, I also made the choice to go with my heart. (It turned out my wife was able to pay for the groceries with some cash, unbeknownst to me).
Perhaps we'll be ready to help this woman again, if we see her in the days to come. Perhaps we'll talk with her and hear her story. We have to trust that although we didn't make the divine connection with her tonight, God is at work. He's got it all under control.
Now, we're primed and ready for our next opportunity to serve, and we have to believe that this woman's needs were met tonight.
Good Night
No comments:
Post a Comment