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The following is an earlier journal entry from a few months ago but I felt as though it had much to do with my feelings at hand. So I am sharing it now.
Yesterday I had a chance to go out after work to hang out with some of my sorors’, with one of their family members house. On the way there I was seemingly in a good mood. I had just gotten off of work and was kind of happy to be having a little time to get away for some time without the hubby and the kids, to clear my head and allow time for my thoughts to stir.
After a short while of driving I noticed several police cars parked on the corner of the street I needed to turn on. Initially I thought “Gosh here we go again with nonsense, and they are blocking my way”. I got caught at the light so I had a chance to see exactly what was going on. To my surprise one of the people sitting on the curb, handcuffed, and surrounded by officers who had a battery of questions was a gentleman who I was familiar with. He lived in my neighborhood with his mother and I immediately thought “Well I guess everything has finally caught up with him”. He wasn’t really all that bad, but I consistently saw him moving about the neighborhood making bad choices and heading down the wrong path. I watched what seemed like an eternity as he tried to explain and answer the officer’s questions. We did catch eyes briefly and he simply looked away. I felt compelled to ask, are you ok? Is there anything that I can do? But, I felt powerless, and though I felt for the young man I just continued to have the feeling that there was nothing I could do to better the situation or make a difference.
I did think to call my husband and notify him of the incident, I thought maybe he could tell his mother just in case he did not make it home and she would at least have an idea of what was going on with her son. After hanging up I continued my drive. I noticed that the sky slowly began to darken, due to the impending storm which was on its way. After a few minutes it began to rain, I slowly rolled up my window to shield myself , but in that moment I began to think of a young lady that I had meet at a conference a few months earlier. For some reason we really connected, although we did not have a chance to really sit and talk exclusively amongst ourselves, the several time that we did cross paths we had pleasant conversation. I had thought of her several times since returning home and tried a few times to reach her by phone with no success. Since I was going towards her side of town, I thought I would give her a call and check to see how she was doing and potentially meet up for lunch. To my surprise this time she answered the call. I spoke briefly with her and discovered that in just that short time since I had last seen her she had some ordeals occur and as a result she moved to another state. She apologized for not getting back to me but that “her life was just all over the place and she really needed to focus on getting things back together”. While listening it began to rain extremely hard. It sounded as if the ocean was falling from the sky. I spoke with her a few minutes more, and then ended the conversation assuring her that I would check in on her and that I wished her the best. I could feel that she was trying to push forward, whatever the situation may have been. Again I felt powerless, and as if there was nothing I could do.
I drove the rest of my trip in the rain which lasted only about 10 minutes. I looked to my right and noticed I had forgotten to roll up my passenger side window and rain had covered my chair. I figured it was wet now so no need to bother wiping it up, I just rolled up my window just enough to let air in but no more rain. As I finished the last leg of my drive, I turned up my radio which had been playing softly in the background. A popular song was on by Kirk Franklin called “I smile”, liked the message of this song and turned it up. It was upbeat and cheerful and made me forget about the young man from my neighborhood, and the telephone conversation I just had. Next a song came on that quickly brought some things into perspective. The choir belted the verse "You’ve got to stay prayed up!”. I listened to the rest of the song but these were the only words that stuck with me.
Today, when I sat down to begin to work these words and my encounters with both the young man and my acquaintance, both rushed back into my mind.
As I thought back over my drive, I could see what message God was trying to deliver to me through these songs and the rain. I treated both of these people as I did my seat in my car. I acknowledged that it was raining, was affected by it, but did nothing to address the situation; other than to roll up my window to prevent me from being affected by what was happening around me. I didn’t even bother to wipe up the rain that had made it into my car, I just figured it would dry, why worry myself about it. I walked away from each situation feeling hopeless, powerless, and left with a since of “what can I do about it”. But there was something I could do, Pray!
Many times in life, as believers, we take for granted that we are shielded from many obstacles and trials the advisary releases into the atmosphere because of God’s divine grace, mercy, and love. We do however forget that even though we can often see the light at the end of the tunnel, or can have hope, even when we can’t, that there are many that just can’t seem to. Can we necessarily stop the rain, no, but what we can do is make an effort to deal with the rain drops that do splatter our way. Both of these people were dealing with rain in their lives. Their situations through watching and listening spilled into my life, even if for a minute. I could have taken the time to deal with it. With the young man I could have had countless times to tell him about God and ask him to consider giving his life to God, instead of just being annoyed when he acting unruly in the neighborhood. With my acquaintance, I could have offered words of encouragement and assurance that God was there with her in her time of need, and that he would not leave her. In both instances when I felt powerless, and that there was nothing I could do I should have immediately offered a prayer in their behalf to allow God’s will and purpose to be spoken over their lives and current circumstances. We already know that God can take a seemingly negative situation and make it work to his good.
It is not by chance that people are brought into your life, for any amount of time. As vessels of God we must know that he is constantly expecting us to use or knowledge of him and his mercy to witness and intercede for his children who don’t know how.
We hear it all the time. Prayer changes things. Yes it does, but you have to be praying. We activate our faith through our prayers. As children of God this is one of our most powerful weapons. It is our direct communication to him. Through prayer, we can ask God questions, vent, receive instruction, and be led in times of uncertainty.
The next time you don’t know what to do, instead of doing nothing, Pray!
