Always indebted to the Lord

Saturday, I enjoyed a most special experience, two small gestures that reminded me how wonderful it is to be in the service of the Lord and how we are always indebted to Him.

I was on my way to meet up with a couple of friends at Starbucks. Since it was downtown, I had to park about a ½ block from the store.  As I crossed the street, there was a homeless man sitting on a planter.  I smiled and acknowledged him and started to continue down the street. He shouted to me, “Hey Blondie! Have some change to spare?” The ‘Hey Blondie’ made me smile, and without hesitation, I turned around and said, “I sure do.” I pulled out my wallet and the first thing I saw was a $10 bill. I paused for about a ½ second and then gave it to him. He was shaking as he took the bill from me. He looked at it, then at me and said, “This is $10, are you sure?” I smiled and said yes. He told me how many meals it would give him at McDonald’s and that was his favorite place to eat. I told him to enjoy every meal, that I hoped he found a warm place to sleep that night, and then continued on my way. As I walked, I smiled and thanked the Lord for the experience.  You see, normally, my first instinct is to question how someone like that would use the money and did they truly need or deserve it. This is a weakness of mine, which I have been trying to overcome. Jeff sets a wonderful example for me and I admire him so much – anytime he sees a homeless person in need, he gives – without hesitation or reserve, he gives. I’ve brought this up to him several times and he always tells me that we are blessed and are in a position to give, so we should. I’ve been trying for quite some time to be able to give without an internal dialogue trying to convince myself; it has been a process that I have to think through every time I’m faced with it. This was the first time I did it without thought; I did it because I knew it was right and it was such a wonderful feeling!

While in Starbucks, we girls were just chatting away. One had just had a baby and we were oodling over him. We ended up chatting about adoption and the highs and lows the process brings; the desire to have babies and how hard it is to accept sometimes that the Lord’s time is not always ours. The whole time, I noticed four people across the way who continued to look our direction and whisper. After about 15 minutes or so, one of the women approached us and asked how old the baby was. His mom let the woman know and she chatted a minute or so about what blessings children were and we all agreed; by this time her friends had come over.  This is when the woman told us the four of them were on a special scavenger hunt. Me, being true to form, joked, “Well, if a baby is on your list, you’re not getting this one!” They all laughed and she said they were on a scavenger hunt for God and that I fit their list with my blonde hair and brown boots. She asked if there was anything I was in need of that they could pray for on my behalf. I said yes and told them about our desire to adopt and that we were waiting for a birth mom to select us and gave each of them a pass along card. They asked my one friend about how she was healing after giving birth, and then they asked my other friend if she was struggling with anything and she told them of her desire to have children as well. The woman asked to pray for all of us and we agreed. Three of the women took turns praying on our behalves. They pray for each of us individually and asked the Lord to bless us; I felt the sincerity of their words and the Spirit enveloped us as they prayed.  When they finished, I thanked them for being willing to act as the Lord prompted them and the blessings we received by them doing so. With that, they said their good-byes and left the store. It was an amazing experience that I feel blessed to have been a part of. 

I love the different ways the Lord blesses our lives and lets us know He is aware of us and loved us - we just have to take the time to look and say thank you!