We’re Called To Help These Dear Ones

I miss my homeless friends.

That’s not something you read every day, is it?

For five years, my days were filled with incredible and special moments with those on the streets. With the poor, the needy, the hurting. Those who were addicted, who were “outcasts” to most, and who were widows and orphans.

Most just yearned for someone to believe in them.

My heart opened up to those dear ones, and the love I felt for each one was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I saw so much of myself in and through those friends, and I experienced the love of Jesus in each conversation and in each experience.

My life hasn’t been the same since.

I drove through that part of town recently, and I saw familiar faces, in the same places they were a year ago. I watched them shivering in the cold. I imagined the tents and the abandoned homes they slept in the night prior.

That about breaks my heart right there.

I wondered if they would eat that day. I wished I had with me a thermos full of hot coffee or hot chocolate to give them to warm up on the inside. I wanted to pick up each one in my vehicle and take them all home with me. But rationally, that would be impossible.

So I prayed.

I prayed for each one I could remember by name. I asked God to bless them. To keep them warm. To help them find Him, and His life-saving truth. Some were so close to coming to a saving faith when my time there ended over a year ago. I pray those seeds have rooted, and have blossomed into a beautiful faith.

Face after face appeared in my mind as I drove. Tears formed when one particular face flashed through. Oh, how I especially missed him.

“Lord, you know my heart, and you know it aches for them. Take care of these dear ones.”

But you know, we’re all called to help these “dear ones.” Look at Isaiah 1:17, The Message:

Learn to do good.

Work for justice.

Help the down-and-out.

Stand up for the homeless.

Go to bat for the defenseless.

They are in our communities. Homelessness isn’t only in the big cities. The poor, homeless, defenseless are everywhere. They are people, just like you and me. They have a need for love, acceptance and grace, just like you and me. Do we see them? Do we want to?

I have a feeling God hasn’t closed that door for me yet. If He had, I wouldn’t still yearn to be with these dear ones.

Will you pray with me?

Heavenly Father, thank You for Who You are. Thank you for how You love us each the same. We think of those who are hurting, who are poor, homeless, defenseless, and needy today. Lord, in Your grace and mercy, would You open our eyes to see them? Open our ears to hear them? Open our hearts to have compassion on them? Show us how we can help those who need our help. Father, may they experience Your love through us today. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

 

Julie

 

It’s a blessing to share today’s #SundayTruth of Isaiah 1:17 with you, and to link up with friends at The Weekend Brew. It’s a beautiful place to hang out for awhile and be uplifted.