After I met with my group this Wednesday on the way back home, Kim noticed a man pushing a woman on a wheel chair. She told me maybe you should offer to give them a ride somewhere. So I dropped Kim & Eli off at home and headed out to help. In my mind I thought “I will make an offer, they will probably say no, they don’t need any help and I will go home”. After 3 attempts to offer a ride or if I could do something for them, I started heading back to my car. The man then approaches me asking if I had any dollars to spare for some food. I told him that I don’t carry money but I would be more than happy to grab some food for them. He accepted my offer and shared that they had been looking for their 14 year old daughter that had run away 23 days ago. Daniel is in his late 50s works in construction whenever he can, Angela is disabled and around her late 30s.
So I headed down to Braums to grab some burgers and as I am doing this I pray and ask God for guidance “God, is this all you want me to do, should I offer more? Can I do more? This is already way out of my comfort zone.” Seconds after the Braums person gives me my food and I start driving back it starts to rain. I told myself “Great. Nice. Now you have to follow through.” Remember how people always say never pray for patience because you are not going to get it, what you get is situations that will test the very core of your patience. The same thing happened here, I have been praying for weeks about opportunities to show Jesus to others, forcing myself to get out of the comfort zone. When I arrived where they were at, I gave them the food and offer to give them a ride back home or anywhere they might be able to spend the night. After talking to his partner they decided to take me up on my offer “In my head I keep thinking what the crap are you doing?” So I help the lady get in the car since she is disabled and put the wheel chair in the trunk. He then tells me gives me directions to where they want to stay.
By the time I get there I notice that its a Motel 6, I offer him some cash to pay for the motel, he accepts. I go to the gas station and take some money out of the ATM and give it to him. While we are driving back to the motel Angela asks “Are you a Christian?” I thought for couple of seconds and then answered “I believe and follow Jesus Christ.” Angela responded, ” I knew you were”. When she said that it brought me back to the scripture in the new testament in the book of Acts if I recall where they said when people look at Christians saw how different they were not by what they said but how they treated each other and always helping those in need. I decide to go with them to check in to make sure they don’t have any problems. When he asks for a room the rep tells him the price, the man looks at the cash and I automatically know he doesn’t have enough. “Unbelievable”. So I told Daniel to keep the money for food and I will get his motel room. I take them to their room and I do what I struggle the most when I am around a stranger, I offer to pray for them, they get all excited and said yes. I start praying, I’m no pro at this but I know what is going on and I got the basics, as I pray for God’s love, mercy, kindness to surround this family and to bring their daughter home, as I am going through the prayer I hear Daniel weeping and Angela saying “Yes please”. I finish and tell them that Jesus loves them very much, I got their number and gave them mine, told them to call me if they need help. As I drove back home, I still felt like I didn’t do anything even though they get to sleep on a bed tonight something they haven’t done for a while now, a warm meal and rest, I leave with the feeling they are still missing their daughter and there is nothing I could about it. I can only pray that God will give them the comfort they need and guidance they are seeking. I can’t imagine how it would feel to know that my daughter ran away from home and I couldn’t find her.
Why do I feel like I have failed? Its like I carry the pain with them.
