broken people

 

Well my dear ones,

 

 

Today I wanted to stop at Home Depot

to pick up some parts to “ant-proof”

our cat-feeding stations.

 

I was all set to go this afternoon,

when I remembered some stuff

I needed to buy on eBay for someone else.

 

Let’s just say I am not “eBay material,”

so that took forever;

hence, I figured, “I’ll go tomorrow,”

but God laid it on my heart

that I needed to go to Home Depot

and go there...like now.

 

I’ve learned not to shrug off such things,

so I went and got everything

except for a small half-sheet of plywood;

as I was picking that out,

a woman walked by me

(interestingly, there was no one else

 in that entire half of the store),

looking somewhat distraught,

and I wished her “a blessed evening.”

 

She stopped, looked at me, thanked me,

and walked on.

 

As I was leaving to check out,

I prayed, “God, if that’s the woman

for whom I am supposed to be here,

then let me see her again.”

 

I turned a corner,

walked down an aisle,

and saw her cart

(a large cart full of parts for stairs,

 kind of hard to miss)

next to the microwave ovens,

but she was nowhere to be seen.

 

I prayed about her some more.

 

God laid it on me,

“She is in the ladies room, crying.

 Pray and wait.”

 

Pretending to be interested in microwaves,

I prayed and waited.

 

When the woman returned to her cart,

it was evident that she’d been crying.

 

I asked her if it would be OK

if I prayed with her,

and she said, “Yes.”

 

So I prayed over her

that I didn’t know what her issues were

but that God wanted her to know

that He knew,

and that in her need,

He sent someone to remind her

that He cared about her.

 

I also reminded her that

God is close to the broken-hearted.

 

*shrugs*

 

We are all broken in some way,

yet God can still use us

to lift someone else up.

 

My wife has the rare gift

of being an actual listener;

and because she makes herself available,

God uses her to help many people.

 

If you tried to tell me 20 years ago

about some of the stuff

that God has me doing today,

I would have laughed you

off the face of the planet!

 

But I’m not laughing now;

I’m just following God.

 

And if you make yourself available,

God will use you to help others

in ways that will amaze you.

 

You could say,

“Wait, I’m still broken myself;

I still have issues;

let me get myself right,

and then I’ll help others.”

 

It doesn’t work that way;

God resists the proud,

but lifts up the humble, the meek.

He doesn’t need the powerful,

because His power is perfected in weakness.

 

Even in our brokenness, we can be used

to help others in ways not readily apparent.

 

A friend of mine agreed to go have coffee

with a young woman who asked her to.

 

She didn’t think much of it at the time;

she figured she was just answering

a small request for some of her time.

 

Two weeks later,

she got a letter from the young woman,

explaining how she had been ready

to take her own life,

but figured she would try one more time

to see if anyone cared,

so she asked my friend to have coffee with her.

 

My friend had no idea that her

simple act of kindness,

something as simple as sharing her time,

saved that young woman’s life!

 

We pass broken hurting people every day,

and we may never know

how close to the edge some of them are.

 

I guarantee you that someone in your life

is watching you, looking to you,

looking to see if you care about them.

 

May God grant us the wisdom and discernment

to see the ones in need when they are in need.

 

 

Have a great week. =)

 

grace, peace, and love to you,

dave