Imagine if the world had giant blurred spots. This isn’t a very difficult image for me to conjure because I have experienced poor vision for the majority of my life. However, thanks to modern technology, I can get up in the morning, put some soft plastic in my eyes and see the beautiful world God graciously shaped for us. But are we really seeing the whole picture? Until very recently, I was walking through life ignoring the blurry spots in my vision. I don’t mean the ones caused by unfortunate optical genetics, but I am talking about the moments of God’s divine intervention that I have simply been ignoring.
I’ve mentioned before how my personal relationship with our Father has morphed and grown throughout these months of preparation for the Race. This past weekend, at my fundraising yard sale, yet another dimension of Christianity was revealed to me.
For the first time in an open and public setting, I ask someone if I could pray for them. And I don’t mean that I said I keep her in my prayers, in the solidarity and privacy of my own home. I asked if I could pray for her right then and there, out loud and in public. Why had I never done this before? I could give the cop out answer and say I wasn’t confident enough to do that, which is partly true. But the real reason I have never done this before is because it had never crossed my mind to ask something like that. Of course, I have seen people in pain, or in need of a smile, but in those situations I would smile and offer a kind word, or maybe I would say that I’d keep them in my prayers. But to stop then and send up a vocal and Spirit driven prayer in front of strangers, with a stranger? Nope. Never thought of it as an option. Until Saturday. On Saturday, it seemed like the most obvious solution and I asked without hesitation.
Let me back up a bit. So on Saturday, I was working my fundraising yard sale with the help of my mom and dad. The sale was going great and we had several people stop by to talk about the mission and were selling things left and right. I could definitely see God in the day. The weather was perfect, regardless of the crappy weather we saw both the day before and the day after. Our visitors were open and excited about the World Race and I had several donations on top of the money we made. About half-way through the day, a woman stopped by and mentioned she was just going to look real quickly because she had just purchased ice cream and it was in her truck. She started browsing through my jewelry and mentioned that she should get something for her granddaughters. I have recently been trying to make more personal connections with the people I meet in everyday life, so I asked “How old are your granddaughters?”. I never imagined this simple question would lead to a deeply personal conversation with this complete stranger. As our conversation progressed and she shared heart wrenching details about her granddaughters, she said “I never talk about this, I have no idea why I started to tell you. But I’m really glad I did.” That was when God nudged me. I asked simply and without pause, “Can I pray for you and your granddaughters?” She began to tear up and said her relationship with Jesus was strained because of her anger. But then said yes, that I could pray for her. And I did. Out loud, with my arm around her, and no regard for the other people milling about the sell. I prayed for peace and forgiveness. I prayed for understanding and love. And I thanked the Lord for bringing that woman to me.
It was nothing short of divine intervention for a woman who was in need of God’s love and grace to walk into my yard sale and start telling me her sorrows. I was used by God that day. And folks, it is a feeling that rests deep in my heart and will stay there as I am used by God again and again this year and forever. I am starting to see that I am already fulfilling my call from the Lord. I am showing His love to the broken and forgotten. On the Race it will be to the people of 11 different nations, but right now, it is to a sweet woman in Rangely, Co.
How am I just now seeing this? How is it just now, when I am so close to leaving on the World Race, that I am openly praying out loud for God’s people. Well, because for so long, I was blurring out God’s everyday intervention. I wasn’t looking for opportunities to serve my God, so I wasn’t seeing the ones He was giving me every day.
My preparation for the Race has shown me this, it has been like soft plastic on my eyes that is now making it all so much clearer. I still have so far to go on this walk with Christ, but every new step is something to be celebrated.
Thank you for celebrating with me.
With love,
Lina
“Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.”
Ecclesiastes 9:11
