Yesterday I reported on Matthew and Elworth and their journey into recovery. Today I have some more info…
While both qualified and were accepted into the program no beds were available for them to stay. This is the reality for those who most desire to change. Both have been to college, both held good jobs at one time but both fell into addictive behaviors and suffered dire consequences. Brokenness is the end result of the fall of the first man “Adam” but thanks be to God that reconciliation and redemption are achievable through faith in the second man “Jesus”. Through the events of yesterday Elworth was forced to call his family and by grace he was accepted back home while he waits for a bed in the program (hopefully Monday). Matthew was received into a short-term emergency shelter while he waits for his place.
I had a chance to speak with Elworth a length yesterday afternoon and I told him that God’s forgiveness is never far away for those who seek his face and there is no end thereof (Matthew 11). I said that we are often allowed to go through things of our own accord but that the believer should come out the other side with a heart of thanksgiving and use their testimony of deliverance to glorify God through speaking that same grace and living truth into the lives of those that God brings into our path. That’s when things got interesting, first he set back and looked at me with watery eyes and said, “You are truly here for a reason and those are the words I needed to hear.” He proceeded to tell me how when he was younger he was heavily involved in ministry work and even was a missionary in China for a year. {Who are these fallen children of God??? People we would normally walk by giving no thought to them as human beings, created in the image of God and loved most deeply by HIm}. I don’t even know who directed him to this door but I DO KNOW that God’s hands were all over him. The humility and tears of brokenness are really a beautiful thing to me (Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.) True repentance and confession of sin are brought fully to bear when we are shown the depth of our sin and this only happens when the Holy Spirit reveals it to us. I am so thankful to have been a part God’s work in his life.
Matthew, through teary eyes, also revealed some things to me, but being of a more confidential nature I don’t feel the freedom to repeat them here. But know that he confesses a belief in Christ Jesus and shows the signs of it in broken tears and contrite humility.
These are by no means my works but Christ has called and equipped the foolish ones of this world to be light and salt in a dark and unsavory generation. These are the reasons that I say continuously that simply being willing and available to love when no one else will, to touch and hug and cry, to speak softly and gently, to believe that God wants to use you in these situations, to be the very source of God’s grace to those that are hurting, lost, lonely, dirty, smelly, unkind in return, judging yet not judged by us that our kindness will be unto them as if God were standing in our place. For it was the longsuffering and loving kindness of God toward us that brought us to that most precious fountain of life and he will do it over and over through us.
These are the greatest miracles. The redemption of the lost through us – these jars of clay. Refining as silver and gold these unrefinable rocks of His glory.
“Pray without ceasing” is the admonition of 1 Thessalonians 5:17; pray for yourself first (John 17) that God will wash away your sin and remember it no more, that He will hear your prayers and answer them with a yes, that He will give YOU opportunity to share the gospel message with someone today. Then pray for those who are most likely to be in harm’s way on the streets and that God will use these events in their lives to bring about a greater glory for Himself. Finally, pray for us, as we work in His fields that it be not for our own vainglory but that Jesus will be exalted in us and through us in every circumstance.
Be of good courage, fear not, God is with thee. You don’t need to be a theologian or a pastor or even have a great command of scripture to play a role in God’s greater scheme.
Be available and willing.
By His grace ,
Amen
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