Our good friend Valerie
from back East was in town for work and came by the shop to visit Donna and me.
She broke down in tears as she expressed her fears. Her ex-husband is an
alcoholic. He is sober sometimes but then lies about being sober at other
times. She really needed to take this job and had to leave her three kids with
him for the four days and one of the kids was sick.
When she spoke with him on
the phone she could tell by his slurred words that he’d been drinking and she
was terrified something could happen to the kids. Besides that, her new husband
was just laid off his job and she’s was so worried they wouldn’t have the money
for bills or to properly take care of the 8 kids they have between them. She
told us her world was falling apart. What did I do?
To be honest, I was caught
off guard and didn’t do the right thing. I was caught in the downhill spiral
and felt a little overwhelmed myself. Donna and I said we felt so bad for her
and we would pray. She left and I felt this emptiness as I saw her walk away. I
prayed for Valerie that night but I still had a niggling feeling that things
weren’t quite right with how I handled the situation. I felt Donna had done the
right thing but it was me. Somehow I missed something.
I didn’t realize what it
was until three days later. Jesus told me what was wrong. I’m a minister and I
should have taken her outside away from where all the other people were (accept
Donna of course), and prayed right there. That was when she really needed it.
Jesus let me know that I’d
messed up big time and I needed to repent, which I did. Of course I felt
terrible and I had to apologize to Valerie too. I’d lost the opportunity to
minister to my friend at her point of need.
I was reminded of James
2:15-16 where it says, “If a brother
or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and you say to that person, ‘God be with you! I hope
you stay warm and get plenty to eat,’ but you do not give what that person
needs, your words are worth nothing.” As it says in Hebrews 1, “NOW
faith is,” not later when I get around it it.
This experience
was a great wake-up call for me. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. But
Jesus has given us the ability to overcome our weaknesses. My strength is in my
writing. My weakness is in thinking on my feet and acting immediately. But I’m
determined, with Jesus’ help to change that, “redeeming the time, because the
days are evil” (Eph 5:16).
I don’t want to be “unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph 5:17). “And that,
knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake” (Rom 13:11). “Let the
weak say, I am strong” (Joel 3:10). I hope this story is helpful to
you and I know we’ll all be ministering more quickly and efficiently in the love
of Christ.
Have a great week.
Love, Carolyn
My WINGS Part 3 is
FREE thru Tuesday on Amazon. If you’d rather have a pdf file email me at cjmolica@hotmail.com. http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&index=aps&keywords=WINGS%20Carolyn%20molica&linkCode=ur2&tag=jmbcsds-20&linkId=XQMVLVZYNBLYAGEM
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