Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Are you aware of others?

Are you aware of others?

This is a question that goes over and over inside my head. I toil with the idea that we should be aware of others and what is going on with everyone we meet. I have to say that I am not good at this at all. I get so consumed with every day life and worries that I forget to actually look at people that I meet as if I was looking at Jesus. As a Christian I think that is it our responsibility to look at others as if we were looking into the eyes of Jesus. How would we treat him if he were here? Well his lives in the faces of those who need our help. We will never know how many opportunities that we have missed to reach out to those who need us. Did you ever think that they could be angels put there by God to see if we would actually do what we say and love them? Just love them for them and their situation and not try to change but just offer the love of Jesus and let him do all the rest. I think we can get into this mentality that we are going to save all the lost hurting poor people but most of the people are sometimes more happy and content than we are.

I just want to serve and have asked God to create a desire that I can’t do anything else but show others the love of God. I want to help and serve and show others what real love is. I want them to know what it feels like to be in the shadow of his wings and know with out a doubt that he has everything in control. I want feed, cloth, serve, and whatever else helps to bring the love of Jesus to others.

I remember a specific time that my husband and I reached out to help this couple. I will never forget this. I was preparing for a missions trip to Mexico with some young teens. We were doing the typical fundraisers and trying to get everything together for the trip. It was a month or so before we were to leave and we still had some money to raise. I prayed that God would show me what to do about the funds.

One day I was leaving Wal-mart which is very typical for me since I am a stay at home mom and it seems there is always something I forgot to get. I remember seeing in the distance a man with a sign standing by his car. Sometimes you see homeless men asking for work or food, or sometimes people will sell animals in that particular spot. But before I knew or saw this sign I felt God speak to my heart and say I want you to give this guy some money. At the time I didn’t know how much. We I drove by I read the sign and it read we need money to make it home or something like that. I can’t remember the exact words. I was like ok, I wanted to revert to a conservative attitude and say they are probably just trying to get money for something else, they need to get a job etc etc. But I decided to call my husband and ask him how much I should give to these people. I told him about the situation and wanted him to say what he felt and he said go ahead and give the 20 dollars. So I went to the ATM because I use debit cards now and carry no cash. I said if this is for real then they will still be there when I get back. When I pulled up to where they were at, they were still there. I was a bit relieved because I wanted to what I felt God wanted me to do. When I pulled up the gentleman walked over and before I could get a word out he said God Bless you as I handed him the money. I was speechless because he did not know how much I gave him. He walked away and as he looked down to see what I gave him his face told the story and I was hit by uncontrollable crying as I drove away. I cried and cried for several minutes and I heard a still small voice say everything for your trip will be taken care. Well at the next car wash we had a donation that pretty much took care of what we needed for the trip and it was so awesome. God moved in such a way that took my breath away and I thought I was doing something good for someone but in turn they blessed me. I truly believe that when that gentleman said God Bless you it meant something because of the transfer of the Holy Spirit that happened. God is awesome.

Who knows what we have missed by being so consumed with things that don’t even matter in the big picture. Like busy little bees we fly about trying to gather all the things it takes to make this great honey, but we find that that we work are selves too hard and end not paying attention and squished like a bug.

Make a effort to be aware of others.