Asking the Lord for His heart for people is something I have to do often in order to love well. Sometimes He tells me to simply smile at people when I walk by them on the street. A smile is worth a thousand words, especially when you can’t speak the same language. The simple act of smiling can help people put down their guard and open up. That and allowing for the Holy Spirit to move through me, because honestly, I wouldn’t be able to have some of the conversations I’ve had. Sometimes, when I ask the Holy Spirit to guide my words, it hits that tender spot in people that hasn’t been discussed in a long time.
When our team was in Ongole, a small remote village in India, I was asked to speak and share my testimony at a small church. When I prayed about what to share, the Lord said to share about my miscarriage. I immediately thought, ‘woah Lord that’s pretty heavy, what if the audience is a lot of children and men? how do I go that deep in the short amount of time I’m given?’ But hey, when the Lord calls you to speak, SPEAK.
So I talked about that and how I battled with depression for years and suicidal thoughts. I shared some of the darkest times of my life with these people, hoping and trusting His guidance with my words. After, we asked if anybody wanted prayer and I saw all of the women’s hands shoot up. I walked to one of them and just started praying, not knowing what to pray for (since we couldn’t communicate) and in the middle of my prayer I felt drips on my arm. As I opened my eyes, this women had streams coming down her cheeks. I took her hands and held them for a bit until she put my arms around her so I could hug her as she wept in them. I didn’t know what she was going through, but the Spirit was hard at work. He used me in that moment and it wasn’t even through words, it was through having a heart for her that only the Lord could allow me to feel
