Footsteps To Freedom

I am driving towards home, and I see a young man holding a sign that reads “Homeless and hungry”. At first all I can see is his back-and-forth movements. I don’t see his face at first because his face is obscured by his hoodie. As the traffic slows down, I realize I am going to catch this red light. I look in my rearview mirror to see where he is, and he is a few cars back. I can see his face now and he looks familiar. I fish around my purse for some change to give him. All I have is a ten-dollar bill. But because I am blessed the amount does not bother me. I hit my horn and realize he is one car away. I roll down my window and I realize; I know this young man. I could never forget those soft blue eyes that always held my gaze when I spoke with him. I hand him the money and he look and says “oh wow! Thank you so much! And I say to him, God bless you, stay strong and pray. He says “I’m dying, the doctor gave me eight to ten weeks to live. I damaged my heart with all the drugs”. Now it was my turn to say, “oh wow!”. I look to make sure the light has not changed to green. I look at him and said, you used to be my client. He nods yes. I say again, I am praying for you, it does not matter what the doctors told you, pray to God and ask Him to heal you and if you can, stop by and see me, He says “yes mam, and thank you again, I appreciate it”.

God has a funny way of getting your attention. I was just speaking to my sister before this encounter and we spoke about living life to the fullest and doing what we want to do, when we want to do it, with no regrets. She said, “most of your weight is stress, you have a lot of stress, and it can and will kill you if you aren’t careful and start being happy again, you have to laugh more, live more and do what you want to do without regrets”.

Now here I am listening to this young man, who is not even close to forty, say to me that he was given eight to ten weeks to live. And I am stressing over someone else’ shenanigans. I am living my life in a world where I am “insignificant and always wrong”.  I must change the narrative. I must look at my life in a whole different way. I must become closer with my God, my higher power, my strength.

Because of my faith I know that God moves in mysterious ways. I know He is strategic in his planning. I am convinced He wanted me that the redlight to hear that story to allow me to see how blessed I am.

I cannot speak for you but there is going to come a time when you may realize you are living your life according to someone else’ playbook. Their actions dictate your feelings and emotions. Their insecurities chose how you move. You start to match their negative energy. STOP IT!

I say a prayer for you and for me:

Dear God,

Today I ask for forgiveness for living my life through the eyes of a mere mortal instead of living my life based on your promises. I vow today to let go of all of it! Even if it means being alone. I vow to stop allowing other people’s behaviors change who You called me to be. I am going to live for You and by Your word. I am going to close my ears to ignorance and arrogance. I am going to speak my truth and say what I need to say without condemnation. Open my mind to show me what YOU want. I will always give you the glory and Praise for You deserve it! Amen

Life is precious. Stop allowing others to dictate how you should live. I can’t stop thinking about this young man. His spoke defeated and convinced that he will leave this earth sooner than he ever wanted to. I prayed for him and that was my charge to do. That was the only reason I was at that red light for that encounter. I may have helped this man by telling him about God, but he certainly helped me to see how precious life truly is. I can no longer waste it.