An Unexpected Blessing
As you may know, we delivered new blankets, courtesy of the church, to the Salvation Army and One-Eighty on Monday of this week. Both agencies were very grateful for our donation, but something else happened that afternoon that we did not expect.
After delivering blankets to One-Eighty, we couldn’t help but notice two women sitting outside the facility. One of the women in particular caught our attention. She was sobbing almost uncontrollably. We decided to approach her to see if we could provide assistance, and she proceeded to tell us that she was homeless and had no place to stay that night. The three of us looked at each other and without saying a word agreed that we had to do something. We put the woman who was homeless up in a local motel for two nights while purchasing a meal for each of them because they had not eaten that day. This spontaneous response was not something that we planned to do. It just kind of happened when we realized that the plight of the two was very serious, and we could not stand by without getting involved
It reminded me of the Scripture that I have referenced many times from Hebrews 13:1-2, which advises us to “keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”
I could not help but think that these two women were angelic in their own way. They were both downcast and in despair, and yet they were very grateful to us, and they expressed their faith and gratitude to God as well.
We wrapped up our serendipitous encounter by holding hands and praying that they would find long-term shelter. When we left, we were uplifted by our experience, and wondering how God might use us next.