Seth Barnes wrote this following blog. This just happened less than 24 hours ago.
Grace came to me unexpectedly today.
We’d been accosted by beggars everywhere we went in Hyderabad. Youwant to help the needy ones, but giving to beggars can be complicated.Anyone who saw “Slumdog Millionaire” understands how it can be a racket.And so, you pray for discernment and you pray for grace.
But your spirit can feel bruised by it all. Today was a long dayand we were ready for a safe place on the eve of our departure fromIndia. And then, walking to our last meeting,
I heard behind me, “Sir,sir!”
I recoiled inside, guard up, seeing a small woman beckoning me and wondering how to fend her off.
“Sir, I have cancer. Mommy, daddy dead. I need to catch train. Help me.”
“Right,” I thought. There was no grace in me.
But I listened as she shared more details of her plight. And Iasked her to come to where we could talk inside our building. I promisedto help somehow. She agreed to walk with us.
Once inside, I got Raju to translate so she could speak in Hindi.She was skin and bones. She showed us a big lump on her neck – anenlarged thyroid. She showed us her deformed arm. She showed us hermedical records.
“I think she is telling you the truth,” said Raju.
“What is your name?” I asked.
“It is Grace,” she answered.
We gathered some of the nearby racers and Noe prayed a powerfulprayer. He declared, “Grace, God says you are beautiful! You arebeautiful.” She was crying. You could feel God’s presence. And a wave ofemotion hit me.
We sent her away with money for the train and for medicines andwith hugs. And if she found grace through us in that short interaction,after a day of searching for it, we found that grace has a pronoun.Yesterday’s blog was also about grace – but about grace as anabstraction. Tonight she took on human form and kissed our spirits. Shewalked away in the night, but her spirit lingered with us.
