God-thing

I’ve been living in a neighborhood that has a very nice walking trail and I take advantage of that trail almost daily. Over the course of the last few months I have regularly seen three boys, about high-school age, walking along the trail as well. Each time I see them I say hello and smile and they’re very polite and say hello in return. In December I felt the urging to speak to one of the boys and ask if I could pray for him. I ignored the urging, telling myself that I was making it up in my head. After passing the boy and missing my opportunity I realized that it was a missed opportunity and immediately asked God for another one. God answered and gave me that opportunity about a week later, to which I ignored it again, telling myself the same thing-that I was making something up in my head. And after missing that opportunity again I immediately knew it was disobedience. God had been faithful to give me opportunities to reach out to this boy, not once but twice, and both times I had said “no thanks”.

 

I talked with my small group about it, expressing that it was a missed opportunity. I felt awful! Disobedience is NOT fun! So while walking on the trail in the weeks to follow I prayed that God would give me another chance. Nothing. This made me sad. Well, on Tuesday I was walking the trail and praying that God would give me one more chance if He wanted me to have one. And not even 30 seconds later this boy walks around the bin, and he’s by himself! He’s always with these two other boys, but that day, alone!  I was so thrilled!

 

My heart leapt and I thanked God for giving me another chance and answering my prayer so quickly. I prayed for the right words to say and the strength to actually go through with it this time.

 

I walked up to the boy and introduced myself and he told me his name is Brandon. I said, “I know it may seem strange to you, but I like to pray for people as I walk this trail. Would it be alright if I prayed for you while I walked?” He responded with a huge smile and his face all lit up and said, “Yes, thank you!” And we shook hands and were on our way.

 

I’m so thankful for many things with this:

1.       That God gave me a third chance to be obedient.

2.       That God answered my prayer so quickly that day.

3.       That God had given me so many opportunities to smile at the boy and say hello to him and his two friends so I didn’t look like a crazy random woman coming up to him on the trail.

4.       That the boy was so receptive  what I asked him.

 

I love these moments where I get to see God working!