1/21/09…God is working, and I am once again amazed at how he connects the dots. Amusingly I think to myself that He must really enjoy those connect the dot drawings that kids do, except unlike us, He is really good at it. For some reason, the Holy Spirit places an urging in me to donate my spare bed to Bridgett. Bridgett is someone I just met who joins us or maybe it is us who joins her on Wednesday nights. Recently she announced she is starting up a shelter for battered women and children in order to help them get off the streets. This is the lady who joyfully takes food every single day, not just on Wednesdays, to those on the streets. Once again God always shows me one more person in this world that is doing more than me, I suppose in order to keep my pride from swelling up, and once again it works. Indeed, Bridgett doesn’t just meet the needs of those in the streets; she goes deep into wooded areas where homeless camps are hidden from view. These are places none of us would deem safe, but not to her. Her testimony is powerful because she exudes nothing but God working through her.
And so the Holy Spirit is not leaving me alone when I learn she is opening her shelters. I obtain a phone number from Bob and then I fail to call her for 5 days, and still the Spirit will not leave me alone. Finally I give in and call her. I honestly do not know if she really needs the bed, maybe she is just being nice when she says “sure I’ll take it.” So Bob and I proceed during lunch one day to deliver the mattress and box springs. We pull up in the middle of a tough neighborhood and see her red car; you always know it is Bridgett by the red car. After a few minutes we locate her inside one of the houses. She is currently doing demolition in one of the front rooms.
After a few minutes of conversation, I now realize why the Spirit led me to her because she needs beds badly. She is stepping out in faith. Over the last few years her life has been dedicated to meeting the immediate needs of those on the streets, but when her pastor at New Jerusalem challenges her to take the next step and help them get off the street, she after much hesitation steps out in faith. Now she has no idea where the money is going to come from, or the help she needs to renovate, or even how it is all going to work out, but somehow she is moving forward. Bridgett will earn no pay for doing what she is about to do. Each house will house up to 10 women and children. The first shelter is scheduled to open the 2nd week in February.
And now I am once again curious to see how God is connecting all the dots in my life and how He has connected me to her. At one time when I came down to Clinton I was joyful and ready for God to use me because I was on fire after my mission trip to China, and then…God put the brakes on. He seemed to say no, you are not ready…but God “I am ready.” After months and months of waiting to serve with dead ends always appearing, and suddenly becoming despondent, God finally is showing me something of which I am not aware, but He is doing it in His timing, not mine. Now after months of being in the silent desert, I can begin to see His unmistakable hand in all these steps; to Him having me buy a house in a certain neighborhood when He knew I was still chasing worldly possessions, to Him having patience with me for 7 months until I grew deeper in love with Him, to Him showing me His desires in Isaiah and throughout the Bible to care for the less fortunate, to Him crossing my path with my neighbor Bob, and now to Him showing me Bridgett. Now I try not to think beyond tomorrow, because somehow I feel He is guiding me into something of which I do not know. It seems each step is building onto itself and I have to rest in Him knowing He is working out the plan, not me…
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