I received the letter below from a total stranger after a youth ministry outreach. The outreach wasn’t fancy. We simply took a bunch of drinks to populated areas on a Saturday afternoon and offered people a cool drink and to pray for them. PS
Dear Students,
I was deeply touched by your outreach efforts this past Saturday at Parmatown Mall. I am not going to sign my name to this letter because I truly believe I am speaking on behalf of the many souls you surely moved that day.
I am in a human services profession. Trying to help people in need is very demanding because the need never ends. Once you’ve done your best for someone, you can’t just “sit back” and take pleasure in your results, because when you look up, you see yet another person in desperate need and your work starts all over again. I am grateful to serve. I cannot imagine myself doing anything else, so I am not complaining. I simply mention these things so you can understand the impact of the Grace you shared with me.
My work can easily require more than 70 hours a week, month after month, often in difficult circumstances. I am also personally responsible for the well-being of two other families, so my resources are stretched about as thin as can be imagined.
On Saturday I was exhausted, ill with the current flu and was basically just trying to survive the day, going through the motions of what I needed to do. That morning, I had asked myself how much more the Lord would expect from me, and why — when I felt I was giving so much of myself – I seemed to be all alone. I considered asking God for a sign of His Love, but immediately felt ashamed of that thought. As it turned out, although I didn’t “officially” ask for a sign, I certainly would receive one!
I don’t live or work anywhere near Parmatown, but my path took me there that day. One young man and then another came up to me and offered me a can of pop. I’m not used to being on the receiving end, so I know I started off treating the situation lightly…until I looked directly into the eyes of the young man standing before me. He had such love and compassion shining forth I was surprised and overwhelmed. As he walked away he said “God Bless you” and I realized, yes, God has blessed me. I had an immediate sense of happiness and being cared for and that was so very nice because I hadn’t gelt that way in such a long time. Christ filled my soul and warmed my heart.
Sunday, I thought about it again and through tears, realized I had also received a profound lesson. God gave me an answer even though I had been too weary and afraid to ask the question. I realized that answers, and love and grace are all around us, if only we open our eyes and minds to find them and then open our hearts to let them in.
If I told people I found God in a can of pop, they would either laugh or think I was crazy. But you know exactly what I mean.
Thank you for being a beloved instrument of the Divine.
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