God has offered me many opportunities in my life.
Some I have embraced and others I have felt were a heart-burden. Having been
brought up in a neighborhood on the wrong side of the tracks where drinking and
abuse were common, I dreamed of fleeing. Running as far away as I could.
We never know what God has in store for us. We never
know if the one thing we fight against will be the one thing He’ll draw us back
to. But God often does, and I’ve seen it over and over again in my lifetime.
It’s funny how stepping away from anger, abuse, and
disorderly conduct and stepping into another life where people value education,
ethics, morals can be life changing. I’m proof positive. So when God nudged me
to work with the least, the lost, and the last I went, dragging my feet, but I
went.
In the process of helping others heal, I healed. The
more I squatted down to assist someone too low to rise up or a child too defeated
to smile or a woman too hurt to see love . . . I saw Jesus by my side, again
and again. I learned to bury my deep hurts. I sought safety under the shadow of
the Almighty’s wings. My whole outlook began to change. I had to be on the
highway of the hurt—to offer a cup of cold water in the blistering heat of
dissatisfaction, betrayal, and loss. And God provided.
A fellow writer asked me if one of the characters in
my latest book was me.
I’m still pondering the answer.
“He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my
foes who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he
rescued me because he delighted in me.” Psalm 18: 16-19
All around us are people who desperately need
someone who cares. Someone who will show them a different way of life . . . a
little hope. Be observant. Step out of your comfort zone. Don’t miss an
opportunity to change someone’s life.
Please don’t stand in the whatifs wondering why you
didn’t help. I never thought that would happen to me. Then it did. With all my
training I failed, and the aftermath has been sorrow.
God be with you always!
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