Law & Order: The Final Entry As Promised

I pass through the security check point, out the doors of the Justice Center and into a refreshingly crisp fall breeze. A few more steps and I'll be in my car and on my way home but there is Michelle sitting on a bench waiting for me. She doesn't know it yet but she is the object God is using to teach me a lesson in unhindered obedience. The kind of obedience that doesn't ask questions to determine if the request is worthy of acting on. The kind of obedience that recognizes the voice of sovereignty and infinite wisdom and dares not bargain.

"Go talk to her."

"But..." I hesitate.

"Go."

I sheepishly approach the bench and sit next to her. I am all nerves as I start in by saying, "I was in the court room when you shared about your grandson. What is he in the hospital for?" That is all the prompting she needs. For what seems like a long time she goes on about her life. A relocation from Maryland to help her daughter and 5 grandchildren has turned out to be harder than she thought. Her daughter is on her way to pick her up and go back to the hospital where her grandson with Cerebral Palsy is suffering from a collapsed lung. She is out of work, out of money, soon to be out of a home, and almost out of hope.

I ask if I can pray for her and before I can finish my sentence, she grabs my hand and says,"Yes, yes!" I stumble through a prayer asking God to give her hope and to provide for her family's needs. When we're done, I ask what her immediate need is. She says they don't have any food...

Food is safe, I reason. Since I have to get home for Jonathan, I can't help her right then so I take her phone number and tell her I'll see what I can do. On my way home, I call a friend, Taryn, to see if she wants to accompany me on a mission of goodwill. (Actually, I wanted someone with me as moral support and as a bodyguard since my hubby was at men's group. I also brought my stun gun just in case. Hey, I didn't know what I was walking into!)

Later that evening Taryn and I load my car full of groceries and drive across town to drop them off. With a hug and a few encouraging words to "hang in there", the event was rather anti-climatic. I didn't have to use my stun gun to ward off any seedy characters, Taryn didn't have to use any of her stellar self defense moves and there was no white light that shown down from the heavens to illuminate the halo around my head. I can say that I went home with a clear conscience, a quiet assurance, and peace that I had done something that pleased God simply because I obeyed his voice.