The closer I’ve grown to Jesus in the last years of my life, specifically in 2019, I have become more keenly aware of “seeing people,” as I feel that this, paired with inexhaustible love, are the complete messages of the gospel. I believe that every single person in this world, desires to be seen; desires to be loved. And that every single person in this world is capable of this if they can tap into the precious creation that God created them to be.
If we know that we are beloved by a Holy Father, then we can love others more effortlessly. It becomes a part of who we are.
I think that when we miss moments to see people and genuinely give love to them, whatever that ‘love’ looks like in that given moment, that we miss the value of our faith. When we miss seeing people because we’re too busy, too tired, too pre-occupied with our own lives, we miss the gospel of Jesus. We miss our call as those that label ourselves ‘Christians.’
As I was closing my fuel door about to get back into my carafter pumping gas the other night, a man approached me. Most people would get instantly scared in a situation like this. To be fair, I am not blind to the insanity in the world these days, nor am I unaware of the danger my life could potentially be in with any given stranger. But when you believe that your life wears the armor of the Holy Spirit every day, and that the Lord is your complete strength, and you proclaim those words to be truth from His Word, you have less fear walking around in His world.
“I’m sorry to just walk up on you like this.”
The man was maybe in his mid-thirties, rather dirty with a shirt and shorts on. He had a book bag on his back that looked rather empty.
At this moment I had a couple of clear options of what to do. I could either ignore him, tell him to leave me alone and get in my car to leave, or I could give two seconds of my night to listen to what he had to say.
“You’re good, man. What’s going on?” I asked him.
“I’m having a really rough night. Do you happen to have a couple dollars you could spare.”
“I don’t have any cash on me, I’m so sorry.”
I could immediately see that the man wasn’t upset by this answer I gave him. He was genuinely just accepting and processing the fact that maybe I was the first person to even be making eye contact, or giving him the time of day tonight. As I looked at him, I noticed his brown eyes were a little twitchy. I’ve experienced enough time around certain drugs, that I knew he was high.
“What’s your name?” I asked him. He answered me and I addressed him with it saying to him, “I don’t have any money for you but I do want to let you know that God is bigger than the circumstances you’re in tonight. I can’t bring miracles into your life but I know He can; this I know for certain. There’s hope on the other side of this chaos. And there’s a place for any meeting you need to attend right up the road. Have you been there? People can help you out there.”
He informed me that he had been, and instantly we were connected in that moment. He knew that I knew where anonymous meetings were—my therapeutic means for going were most likely vastly different from his, but the relatability to a general brokenness was the same.
In that moment of shared words and seconds of eye contact, we connected on so many levels.
We are both broken.
We are both in need of love.
We are both in need of Jesus.
The difference was I was hoping to show him the healing love of the Lord that He couldn’t find on his own this evening.
“Can I pray with you?” I asked him. He instantly said ‘yes.’ “Anything specific? Lady situations? Kids? Job?”
“All of it,” he quickly spoke back.
With tears in both of our eyes, I held this mans hands and I prayed for him. Right there at the gas pump at 11:30pm; exhausted from working back to back doubles, but not too exhausted to share inexhaustible love from Christ. That was all I had to offer him at that moment. But an offering that I brought to be used by the Lord, nonetheless.
After praying this prayer, I gave him a really warm, its-gonna-be-okay hug, and I hope he knew that it would be. As I walked away from him to get back into my car, he asked after me, “What’s your name?”
“Angelica.”
“Angelica,” he repeated back to me.
“You’re an angel.”
“I try to be.”
And with that, I got in my car and drove away.
I don’t know how or why God uses our brokenness for His glory and to love on His children in this world, but I’m surely thankful that He does.
Maybe my relationships with addicts in my past have led me to be able to see people like this man; to be able to notice the hurt behind the eyes of a high and wandering son of the Creator of the universe… desperately searching for love, peace, and comfort.
Maybe I’ve experienced all I have with people like this in my past to be able to connect with them in my present when I find them in need. I don’t know all the answers, but I do know Jesus, and sometimes He just needs us to give our ‘yes’ so that He can use us as vessels of His goodness to others.
I may never see that man again, but God will. He will see Him every single moment of his life that is yet to come. He was with him in the darkest days he’s had, and ones that are still in his future. He knows the forecast of his life storms awaiting. But maybe, just maybe, showing him the love of God on this one evening, may bring him back to His Father’s arms, rid of his addictions, and clean in His sight once again. God can do all of that. I can’t. But I surely can love the way He taught me to through His son; Jesus.
I share this story to encourage you to step out of your own life, and see people the way Jesus saw them.
As Christians, it’s not an option, but an obligation (Romans 8:12).
I wear a bracelet that my best friend Marissa gave me that is embroidered with “H.W.L.F.” which stands for “He Would Love First.” This bracelet was made in response to the bracelets I wore in high school (that many others still wear) that read “W.W.J.D.” meaning “What Would Jesus Do?”
I try to ask myself that very question in any given situation. What genuinely would Jesus do here? He would love, first. Before anything else, He loved. He was obedient to His father, and He loved others so beautifully. So when it came to just speaking to someone at a gas station, I knew Jesus would’ve never turned him away—no matter how tired He was from performing miracles day in and day out.
If I’m being honest, it was genuinely nerve-racking to ask to pray with this man at the gas station. It still is; every time I ask to do this with someone. On this night that I prayed, Iwas actually stuttering over my words here and there, because I was nervous. Why? Because being the hands and feet of faith, the body of Christ to the world, is a weighted calling. Who’s to know that a single person has ever prayed with this man before? I hope that they have, and that this world is better than it feels like it is, but I see people in their own selfish lanes far too often. We’re too tired to stop, too busy to care, too selfish to extend the love that we quite literally harbor inside of ourselves and only let it out when it’s convenient for us.
My challenge to you (especially if you’re a believer), and to myself, is to step out of comfort zones. Love bigger even when you’re busy. See others in their battles even when you want to close your eyes and look the other way. Carry the burdens of the world so that others can experience some weight lifted, and then LAY THOSE BURDENS DOWN at the foot of the Cross.
If you proclaim it, don’t just say it, but live it. Look up from your life. Notice those around you. See people. And love them like Jesus would. Not because you have to, but because you have the opportunity to do so.
The deeper I go into my personal relationship with the Lord, the more I understand that testifying the gospel sometimes looks like a smile, a “how is your day going today?,” a compliment, or just sheer simple eye contact, and a moment to relate to someone in the thick of their pain.
This is Christianity.
This is Jesus.
This is believing in something, and Someone, bigger than us.
