A pastor in Michigan didn’t judge my unsaved dad because he avoided the church services.
Reverend Thomas Grassano, Sr. and his wife shared beef tacos at Dad and Mom’s home on numerous occasions. He wanted to be Dad’s friend. Dad didn’t accept Christ under that pastor’s ministry, but the seeds of kindness eventually grew into faith.
When a hospital co-worker experienced a long-term illness, I saw her getting weaker. Even after visiting doctors, she had no answer for her illness. She began to miss work. One day, I took her a chicken pot pie and drove her to the bank at her request.
Later, I said, “Mary, I’ve talked to our Emergency Room Director, and she said if we come to the ER, she will make sure a good doctor sees you. Will you go with me?”
“Yes,” she said, “I’ll go.”
“Can I pray with you that the doctors will be able to diagnose your problem?” She agreed and we prayed.
Mary was admitted to the hospital that day, and when we had a moment alone, I said, “Mary, let’s thank God for your answer.”
Recently, she had awakened at two in the morning and in pain. “I knew you were praying for me,” Mary told me.
How did she know? I hadn’t said anything. Those who are near to the kingdom know when they encounter kingdom people. And they know whom to call on for prayer.
After two days, the doctor said, “Mary, you’re going to make it.”
People around us need someone to express God’s love to them, as did the Proverbs 31 woman. Jesus was full of compassion too. Judgment wasn’t on His mind when He encountered the woman at the well. He offered her living water.
God’s Word challenges us to recognize and meet the needs of others as we can. Mary Crowley, founder of Home Interiors, Inc., had a motto for sales success: “Find a need and fill it.” God’s work is similar.
Recognize a need, and ask God for wisdom to minister to that need.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay.)
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Phyllis Qualls Freeman is a freelance writer with twenty years’ experience and more than four hundred published devotions, magazine articles, and newspaper human-interest pieces. She lives near Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Answered Prayers, and several anthologies. She writes devotions on assignment and enjoys mentoring new writers.