Photos by: Isabella Gutierezz
Tonight was one of the coolest nights of my life; seriously. I went with some people from my church to a local beach to hand out bags with granola bars, water, socks, etc. to homeless people. We each split off into groups and walked around to look for people we could hand the bags to and pray over. My group walked around for 40 minutes and didn’t see one homeless persons. I’ve grown up next to this beach city and have always seen homeless people around, so this was super discouraging for me and my group. As we were walking down the street, we prayed aloud and asked God to just help us help people. It was the shortest prayer, but man did God pull through! Within just a few minutes we came across two homeless people on the same street. They were so kind and accepting of the things we had brought for them. One of the people we had the privilege of meeting was Terry. Terry was especially receptive to us, he gladly excepted the bag and let us pray over him. It was a moment I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
This reminded me so much of God stretching his hand to us. He willingly gives us, each and everyday, the wondrous gift that is Jesus Christ. God in flesh, perfect love, savior of the world, freely to us. But yet, a lot of the time I don’t except the gift. When I say this I don’t mean to say I haven’t put my faith and trust in Jesus as my Lord and savior, I mean that when I’m are going through rough times, I don’t turn to Jesus even though he’s right beside me. I try to fight battles on my own, slowly being defeated and put down by the enemy. All of this unnecessary hurt and torment, because I’m selfish. I honestly have no clue why I always assume I can do everything by myself, because I always end up running back to Jesus with all this pain. Now, Jesus doesn’t necessarily take away our pain, but he gives us hope that nothing else could ever provide for us.
When Terry excepted the gift, it reminded me of how I should except the gift of Jesus in all of those little moments when I try to deal with things on my own. It’s nothing to be ashamed of; in fact its the smartest decision I could make. The way Terry immediately accepted our desire to help him out is exactly how I want to look to Jesus. I want to gladly and joyfully go to Jesus in every trial or tribulation no matter how big or small.
I keep picturing God’s hand stretched towards me, and me not grabbing it. Friends, today, right now, and forever, let’s grab his hand and walk with him, as it was always meant to be. Let’s anchor our souls in Jesus Christ and gladly choose to look to him at every moment. Like Terry, lets not feel ashamed in ourselves but rather be overjoyed and eagerly accept the gift.
Thank you Jesus for putting both of the wonderful people we met tonight on our path. I will never forget it.
|dress: urban outfitters | shoes: vans | beanie: pine design co | denim: again lol, I grabbed it from my sister’s closet |
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