I just have to share an inspiring tesitmony from my friend Kim, who I just got off the phone with. She is a genuine, sweet person with such a beautiful spirit and heart for God. She is one of my very best friends. Kim doesn't enjoy writing as I do, so I asked her if I could write about her day because I feel it needs to be shared. She excitedly gave me permission. She doesn't have a Facebook page (weird, right?!), but hopefully will soon, so she can see what I wrote.
Kim has been going through some really big trials in her life, and some of those trials we are going through together. In all of her adversities, she never loses sight of her faith, and never misses an opportunity to bring God praise not only for the things He has done, but the things He WILL do. Anyway, she was driving to a very stressful doctor's appointment with her mom in one of the busiest intersections in the city. While stopped at a red light and in the scorching heat she saw a homeless woman walking across the street with no shoes on her feet. She looked like she hadn't had a shower in quite sometime, and she was dragging a big black garbage bag behind her, which looked heavily loaded with stuff. Suddenly, the bag split open and it's contents began spilling out all over the street. The woman didn't notice it at first, and kept walking, dragging the bag, leaving a trail of debris behind her. Kim couldn't tell at first what the contents were that were spilling out all over the street, but her mom soon realized what they were. She said, "Kim, that's food! That woman is losing all her food!" At that point, the bag totally burst open, and every single thing inside of it scattered. Kim felt a strong tug within her spirit that she needed to help her. They were parked 4 or 5 cars back from where the woman was, and no one else was offering her any assistance. The food kept spilling everywhere, and the woman looked frantic. The light was going to be turning green any moment, and her food which looked to be the only food she'd probably had in quite some time was spread all over the busy street. Kim said, "Mom, I feel like I need to get out! Should I get out? I'm getting out!" Her mom said, "Yes, go!" Kim lept from her car and ran up to help the woman. There was so much food everywhere, that even with both of them loading up their arms, there was no way she was going to be able to salvage it all. She prayed that God would help her be able to save this poor woman's food. They ran a few arm loads to the side of the road and ran back to get more, but the light had turned green, and cars were beginning to go. Kim ran out in the street to try to stop traffic, and as she did so, one guy intentionally came very close to her with his car as he zoomed by, glaring. She took her sunglasses off of her pretty, perfectly made-up face and looked directly at him. Not a dirty look, just a look like, "Nothing that you are late for could possibly be more important than this poor woman's need for help." She said his face kinda fell, like he was feeling convicted in his spirit, and he drove on. The rest of the traffic stopped to let them rush to gather up the food. One guy in a truck did drive by them quickly as they stooped and scurried to salvage what they could, but as he did so, he threw an empty box out of his window. "Praise God!", she thought. Now they had something to put all the food in. But it wouldn't all fit. They hauled that box to the side of the street - the light was now back to red - and God told Kim to look over at a nearby building, where she saw a big empty crate sitting on top of a dumpster. She ran and got it and her and the shoeless woman began to load up more food into it. By this point the light was green again. They were almost finished. The woman looked up at Kim - their faces were close together - as they were bent over picking up food to throw into the crate. The woman said, "Thank you SO much! I just found all this food in a dumpster!" Kim assured her she would stay until the job was done so that none of it would be ruined or go to waste. They finished, and ran the crate to the side of the road, and traffic resumed. Finally the hurried and annoyed motorists could move onto wherever it was they were going. The woman again thanked Kim, and Kim smiled and told her how happy she was to help.
While she was recalling the story to me, she said, the one thing she saw the most about the woman was her feet. They must have been killing her on the scalding pavement. They were hard and calloused and dirty. The woman had dirty hair also, which looked a little like unintentional dreadlocks were starting to settle in. Her clothes were ragged and dirty. She looked like she hadn't had a home in quite some time. Kim thought to herself, "If God loves this woman whom some would definitely consider "the least of these" so much that he would bring her a miraculous bounty of food and such help in time of need, then I know he will take care of me too!". In that moment all her worries about money, life stresses, major heartaches, health issues and fears about the future just seemed to melt away and she knew in a very deep way that God would never let her fall... that He loves her enough to not only provide some of her needs, but all of them. She thanked God for the homeless woman, who opened her eyes, and blessed her with divine insight. This was to her just as big a blessing as the one she selflessly provided to the woman in the street.
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“The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40
"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Matthew 6:26
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