"The only way to have a friend is to be one." Ralph Waldo Emerson
This might seem like bragging but it is actually only bragging about how cool God is and that He can use anybody. Many of the particulars of this story are a little foggy. I will begin where my memory was first jolted back into the misty past. I don't remember if I was in Kansas City again or Columbia, but I remember I was in a crowded location like a mall, with a group of people. Suddenly this woman around my age starts yelling my name and comes over and hugs me and says, “I always wondered if I would ever see you again.”
I am looking at her and have absolutely no earthly idea who she is or where I might know her from. I am frantically flipping through my mental Rolodex. Oblivious to my lack of recognition she just keeps gushing, “Oh my goodness, you have no idea how you changed my life. I just don't know where I would be if I hadn't met you that night. Wow, I always wanted to thank you, you just have no idea what you said meant to me.”
I am feeling completely bewildered and wondering if she has the wrong person. Meanwhile the group I was with have walked a safe distance away and are staring at us giving me facial expressions like should we save you from this loony fan.
She then noticed my hesitancy and my friends and said, “Oh, I'm sorry, am I keeping you from something, I will let you go in a second. I just always hoped I would see you again so that I could thank you. I guess you might not remember it, it was a long time ago but I was in Westport in Kansas City and was fighting with my boyfriend. He was standing over me yelling all kinds of horrible things and I was sitting on the curb crying. You came out of nowhere and sat down next to me and put your arm around me and said that I didn't have to listen to him. Because what he was saying was not true and that I was worth so much more. And that nobody ever deserves to be talked to that way and life is too short to let someone treat you so badly. You said I was too smart and too pretty, Jesus loved me and that I was worth so much more than this. Then you hopped up and started walking away and I asked you your name and you told me it and said you would be praying for me.”
Suddenly I started remembering that night. Bits and pieces and flashes of images are coming back to me. And I tell her that I remember it now but I am still pretty speechless and dazed.
She said after you walked away, I realized you were right and I left him and never went back. Now I have met a great guy who isn't abusive and we are going to get married. I don't know if I ever would have left him since I had been listening to his lies and putting up with his abuse for years and years. So thank you so much for your hug and kind words when I needed them. She hugged me again and walked away.
I would like to think I had some good parting words here, like I will keep praying for you and God bless you and what is your name again, but I honestly don't think any of that happened. I think I was still kinda standing there in shock till the group I was with came over and asked, “what was that all about?” I don't even think I tried to tell them the story. I never knew this girl's name and both times our encounters were maybe five minutes long.
It is so obvious to me how God put me in the right place, at the right time and gave me the right words to say to this girl. And that five minutes can make a world of difference, it can change your mind and change your world.
“Giving is the secret of a healthy life. Not necessarily money, but whatever a man has of encouragement and sympathy and understanding.” --John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
The great, big irony and the part that really, really speaks to me about this story is the condition I was in at the time. This story happened lifetimes ago for me and in actual time it was anywhere from 5-7 years ago. I was such a different person then and was so deep in a sin filled lifestyle and didn't even know it.
Here are a few of the things I remember about that night: For one I was drunk, very drunk which is the big reason my memory is a foggy haze. I had on a new pair of black and white striped pants. I remember the pants because I remember sitting on the curb with her and they were doing funny things to my eyes....beer goggles aren't very clear. I also remember when I walked away from the girl my friends said to me, “What on earth were you thinking sitting on the filthy sidewalk in white pants. Do you even know her.” I think I mumbled something about how I needed to talk to her.
That is pretty much all I remember about that night. I don't remember “helping” anybody. I don't remember imparting any words of wisdom. I am pretty sure we were walking to another bar when I happened upon her. I am sure I proceeded to get even more inebriated in the next bar.
And that is the real beauty in this story. The real beauty is that I was a complete and utter mess, I was just as lost as she and probably needed a hug myself. But God.... But God was still able in my flawed, foggy mind to reach me and help me to reach out to someone else in need. I didn't know what I was doing or how God would use it, but He did. He can use anybody, anytime, any place for any thing. He can, He did and He will continue to. I believe it, know it and can't wait to see it.
Lord please use us all to do your work. Lead us to help and hug those in need and impart to them Your word and Your wisdom when they need it most. Put us in the right place at the right time and give us the courage to do Your will. Reveal to us that we are all capable of doing so much for you and help us to be willing to do it everyday.
“What I kept, I lost,
What I spent, I had,
What I gave, I have.”
--Persian Proverb
Heaven helped me 12/8/08
God bless you today!
Love Always,
Amaris*
This might seem like bragging but it is actually only bragging about how cool God is and that He can use anybody. Many of the particulars of this story are a little foggy. I will begin where my memory was first jolted back into the misty past. I don't remember if I was in Kansas City again or Columbia, but I remember I was in a crowded location like a mall, with a group of people. Suddenly this woman around my age starts yelling my name and comes over and hugs me and says, “I always wondered if I would ever see you again.”
I am looking at her and have absolutely no earthly idea who she is or where I might know her from. I am frantically flipping through my mental Rolodex. Oblivious to my lack of recognition she just keeps gushing, “Oh my goodness, you have no idea how you changed my life. I just don't know where I would be if I hadn't met you that night. Wow, I always wanted to thank you, you just have no idea what you said meant to me.”
I am feeling completely bewildered and wondering if she has the wrong person. Meanwhile the group I was with have walked a safe distance away and are staring at us giving me facial expressions like should we save you from this loony fan.
She then noticed my hesitancy and my friends and said, “Oh, I'm sorry, am I keeping you from something, I will let you go in a second. I just always hoped I would see you again so that I could thank you. I guess you might not remember it, it was a long time ago but I was in Westport in Kansas City and was fighting with my boyfriend. He was standing over me yelling all kinds of horrible things and I was sitting on the curb crying. You came out of nowhere and sat down next to me and put your arm around me and said that I didn't have to listen to him. Because what he was saying was not true and that I was worth so much more. And that nobody ever deserves to be talked to that way and life is too short to let someone treat you so badly. You said I was too smart and too pretty, Jesus loved me and that I was worth so much more than this. Then you hopped up and started walking away and I asked you your name and you told me it and said you would be praying for me.”
Suddenly I started remembering that night. Bits and pieces and flashes of images are coming back to me. And I tell her that I remember it now but I am still pretty speechless and dazed.
She said after you walked away, I realized you were right and I left him and never went back. Now I have met a great guy who isn't abusive and we are going to get married. I don't know if I ever would have left him since I had been listening to his lies and putting up with his abuse for years and years. So thank you so much for your hug and kind words when I needed them. She hugged me again and walked away.
I would like to think I had some good parting words here, like I will keep praying for you and God bless you and what is your name again, but I honestly don't think any of that happened. I think I was still kinda standing there in shock till the group I was with came over and asked, “what was that all about?” I don't even think I tried to tell them the story. I never knew this girl's name and both times our encounters were maybe five minutes long.
It is so obvious to me how God put me in the right place, at the right time and gave me the right words to say to this girl. And that five minutes can make a world of difference, it can change your mind and change your world.
“Giving is the secret of a healthy life. Not necessarily money, but whatever a man has of encouragement and sympathy and understanding.” --John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
The great, big irony and the part that really, really speaks to me about this story is the condition I was in at the time. This story happened lifetimes ago for me and in actual time it was anywhere from 5-7 years ago. I was such a different person then and was so deep in a sin filled lifestyle and didn't even know it.
Here are a few of the things I remember about that night: For one I was drunk, very drunk which is the big reason my memory is a foggy haze. I had on a new pair of black and white striped pants. I remember the pants because I remember sitting on the curb with her and they were doing funny things to my eyes....beer goggles aren't very clear. I also remember when I walked away from the girl my friends said to me, “What on earth were you thinking sitting on the filthy sidewalk in white pants. Do you even know her.” I think I mumbled something about how I needed to talk to her.
That is pretty much all I remember about that night. I don't remember “helping” anybody. I don't remember imparting any words of wisdom. I am pretty sure we were walking to another bar when I happened upon her. I am sure I proceeded to get even more inebriated in the next bar.
And that is the real beauty in this story. The real beauty is that I was a complete and utter mess, I was just as lost as she and probably needed a hug myself. But God.... But God was still able in my flawed, foggy mind to reach me and help me to reach out to someone else in need. I didn't know what I was doing or how God would use it, but He did. He can use anybody, anytime, any place for any thing. He can, He did and He will continue to. I believe it, know it and can't wait to see it.
Lord please use us all to do your work. Lead us to help and hug those in need and impart to them Your word and Your wisdom when they need it most. Put us in the right place at the right time and give us the courage to do Your will. Reveal to us that we are all capable of doing so much for you and help us to be willing to do it everyday.
“What I kept, I lost,
What I spent, I had,
What I gave, I have.”
--Persian Proverb
Heaven helped me 12/8/08
God bless you today!
Love Always,
Amaris*
we feel we are useless when we are utterly messed up.
ReplyDeletewe feel we are useful and respectable when we are clean and sober.
so much for feelings!!! LOL
Nice going A*