“What shall I do? What steps should I take? What moves should I make? Oh, Lord, what shall I do?
About two years ago, the Lord allowed me to become acquainted with a family which were having hard times. The mom had become a member of the church body and immediately cried out for “HELP.” Stop, right there! Judge not that ye be not judged (Matthew 7:1). Well, isn’t that one of the reasons God has established the Church – to help?
Back to the story…The dad was on disability and the mom was unemployed. They were going through many troublesome situations. There was car trouble, house trouble, furniture trouble, refrigerator trouble, food trouble, clothing trouble, money trouble, etc. Trouble.
The Lord placed me in the position to get the car out of the shop, get a refrigerator, find furniture, purchase food, be instrumental in getting a small job and the list could go on and on. My desires for the family, which were shared with them, were to thank the Lord for making a way for them, husband and children attend Church, and that the wife would stay in fellowship with our church body. Promises were made, but very few were kept. In fact, most of the time, there was never any fellowship at the church, unless there was a need or we were giving away things. The job didn’t last but for a very, very short time. My desires never came to pass.
Request for prayers were being asked, along with money and material items, but when those last two items ceased, the calls became less frequent. Eventfully they stopped. I had peace because I was a doer of Ephesians 4:32a, “Be ye kind one to another…”
But recently, I received a text that said, “Mrs. Turnbough, would you please pray for me.” Three days later, late that night, another text came asking if I knew of some place to get some food. It’s the holiday and there was not enough food in the house for the family, and her sister who had just moved in. She had left her husband and she and the children had no place to go.
I pondered about how to handle this situation. Struggling question began to flood my soul. What shall I do? What steps should I take? What moves should I make? Oh, Lord, what shall I do? Should I get involved again? I had said to myself, “I am not helping them anymore”.
Why go back on my word? They didn’t appreciate it. Are they just using me again? I don’t want to be foolish and lean on my own understanding. So, it’s the holiday weekend and she wanted certain food in the house. Is that my responsibility? Is this a test for me to see if I will listen to my flesh or the Spirit? Or, is this a prayer being answered, that I have prayed to be used by You? Is this Your hand at work and You’re inviting me to see what you are doing? It’s not that I can’t do it – do I want to help? What would you do Jesus? Please guide me Holy Spirit. I need wisdom.
After having these thoughts for an hour or so, I opened my bible and began to read Psalms 47, 48, and I stopped at 49. It spoke about not trusting in your wealth and when you perish you won’t be taking any of it with you. I got my answer! Give the family some money for food. That’s what Jesus would do.
Prayer:
Father God, for whatever reason You allowed her to text me, I can’t let you down because of my flesh questioning the whys and why nots of men. Amen.
By the way, a day later, the Holy Spirit whispered to my heart why the text was made to this vessel – I needed a fresh testimony in helping someone who I had said I wasn’t going to help again. “Someone will follow the “Me” in you because you followed “Me.” You passed the test!”
Carol Turnbough is also known as ” Song of Joy”.