Let’s see…
Where to begin?
I trust that all of you who joined in the day of Prayer {and fasting} yesterday were encouraged.
I know I was.
And really, there are many who will continue to pray through the requests, so you can still add yours.
As I have prayed through the ones listed, I was struck with how many struggles so many are having. I don’t know about you, but I felt such a closeness with you all yesterday. It was like you were right here. Did anyone else feel that or was it just me?
This morning I was out of the house early. I went to speak to our interns. Twice a week they have someone come in to speak and so it was my day – I got to! I loved it. These young men are awesome and it is such a privilege for the River Church to be investing in them.
After meeting with them, I had another meeting. When I was leaving, I felt very strongly that I should swing by a place that I seldom go to pick some things up. It was so clear – I knew it was the Lord.
I went right there.
When I went to get in line to check out, I noticed I had gotten in line behind a homeless woman I have seen several times around town. The second I saw her I knew that that was why I was there!! I had not seen her in a long while. While standing in line I tried to strike up a little conversation with her. She was not very responsive.
As she went to have the clerk ring up her order, I quick said, “I’m paying. I’ve got hers.” She whipped her head around. Now sweet friends, promise, I am not telling you this story to get a pat on the back. I am telling you to let you hear my heart. For many years I would have talked to her, but been too shy to know what else to do that would minister to her.
But thankfully, I am continually growing in my walk with Christ {and have overcome my shyness} and learning how to seize every single opportunity to be His hands and feet. {I still miss it, but this time I didn’t!}
I said, “I want you to have a Merry Christmas. What’s your name anyway?” She told me her name. I paid for her order. I asked her how old she was. She is just about the same age as me.
As we talked, she smiled a weak little sweet toothless smile. My heart welled with compassion. I honestly felt like I was staring at Jesus himself, I was so overcome with emotion for this precious lady.
After leaving her, I was reminded of these verses:
‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them,you did it to Me.’
Matthew 25:35-40
And my prayer is this: Please Lord never, ever, ever allow the busyness of the day to keep me from doing your work. And Lord, would you please continue to break my heart with the things that break yours.
What a blessing to be led by God to be His hands and feet today. Such a reminder for me to remember to not be too busy and overlook what he wants me to do today. Thank you Linny!
Christy
What a beautiful reminder of how God's love is all around us. What we do for others, we do for him. Lovely. I will try to remember that as we enter in the season of his birth.
Thank you for sharing that! I bet you could see Jesus in her!
I love the verses you quoted! And your prayer at the end- I'm going to borrow that!
I was brought to tears! Thank you! I LOVE when we can do that for others.
So beautiful, Linny..and so important for us all..To be open to all the opportunites God puts before us to serve Him and glorify His name.
There are so many who are hurting like you said….and when you ask us all to fast and pray the power of God is so big..so awesome and working in the lives of so many. Praise God!
May we all be His hands and feet while here on earth. Beautiful Linny, just beautiful. Hugs and love
I have a habit of being "blind" when Im out and about. I hate that. My husband is very good about scoping things out and the Lord uses this to ministers to those around him. I wish I could open my eyes and see things that need to be done, or people who need a smile. What a great example!
Those verses have been uppermost in my mind lately, Thank you for sharing. I want to be bold enough to do things but somehow I seem to cave at the last moment. I appreciate your sharing and showing me a "way" to go about it.
Thanks so much,.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!
BEAUTIFUL!!
Thank you for sharing. This is a day for inspiring posts. Merry Christmas! 😉
Thank you for your encouraging and inspiring words.
I also wanted to mention that though I didn't post my prayer request(s) yesterday, I did join in fasting and praying. And I do continue to pray that God will move mountains – there are so many needs!!
Linny, you have more than once inspired and encouraged me to make more conscious efforts to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Yesterday was one of those days. We went to a different part of town to drop off some items at a transition home for foster children. We prayed for these kids throughout the rest of the day. Then twice, as we ran a couple more errands, we came upon a homeless person. We always keep "homeless care packages" in our vehicles so that we can easily hand them out of the window when we see someone with a homeless sign. These gallon ziplocs have such things as toothpaste, toothbrush, granola bars, water, hand warmers, mints, lotion, $1 McDonald gift certificates, etc., as well as a note from our family. We pray for these individuals after our encounters. I really want to instill in my kids the action part of being a Christian. Thanks for your encouragement!
thank you! blessings ♥
LOVE this post. : ) The other day I offered to buy a sandwich for a man who appeared to be homeless sitting drinking a coffee at a fast food place. He said no thank you! Maybe he wasn't homeless…
Wow! Thank you for sharing and inspiring and encouraging words. HalleluYah!
Thanks for sharing. I gave a little donation to a homeless teen near Denver a while back. As I drove away I started to weep thinking "that's somebody's teenager son. That could be MY son." If we only saw strangers (everyday)the way God sees them…
Linny, you ever been shot in the heart????
Well if you never have, let me tell you that YOU just shot ME in the heart…
What a beautiful way to SIMPLY show Christs love…
Thanks for sharing this.
P.S. how is DW doing, miss his posts.. *grin*
just saying….
Thank you for sharing this. This is so strange, in the past few weeks the Lord been revealing to me things about the homeless people. It all started with a simple donation request from a coworker's friend who volunteers for one of the shelters, to me searching their site for volunteer information. Just in a couple of days I have learned a world more than I thought, all the pre-conceived notions about the people without homes. I cannot wait to see what God does with me, but I am a bit scared too – I've lived my comfortable life in suburbia for so long. I think its time to take a plunge and step down to where so many live and see what I can do.
So I just found it to strikingly odd to see this post here, just a day after I posted a prayer request for the Lord to help and guide me to what I am supposed to do.
Love your heart, Linny! I know it is GODS heart!
Just have to tell you that all morning I have left your blog pulled up on my laptop so we could have this awesome music playing while we homeschool! 🙂