Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Nothing Wasted


 
So, finding my niche in Chattanooga hasn’t been as easy as it was in Nashville. 
       I got in town Monday around 3:30, and I drove around the city looking for homeless people… I couldn’t find any. So, I went to the home of my Chattanooga hosts, the Hutsells. The Hutsells are so sweet and have such a lovely home! I am so grateful for our time together, even if it ends up getting cut short.
       This morning I drove to the Chattanooga Community Kitchen to see if they had anything for me to do there. When I knocked on the door, a lady answered, but she didn’t let me in. She kind of just stood in the doorway and asked me what I needed. When I asked her if they had any volunteer work that needed done, she told me that I would have to call and make an appointment. So that didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped for, but I wasn’t discouraged. I knew I just had to keep looking.
         From there, I went to Starbucks so that I could make calls and Google more ministries that I could try to plug into.  Some of the places I called didn’t answer, some places said I would have to leave a message and have them get back with me, and some places said that they didn’t have any short term volunteer opportunities. So calling and googling didn’t end up being very productive, either.
        While I was sitting in Starbucks, I had really bad neck pains that were making me feel sick and easily distracted. My mom posted something about it on Facebook, and I saw somebody comment on there that maybe I was around someone with neck pains and I needed to pray for them.  But I just went along googling and making calls. Then I went up to get some more coffee and I looked at the barista and asked him if by chance he had any neck pains. He said, “Yes, in fact I do. I have herniated disks.” (Crazy, right? The first person I ask has not just neck pains, but herniated disks!). So I asked if I could pray for him, and he said yes, so I did. When I was done, I asked him if it felt any different and he said, “Not at the moment.” And I told him I believed it would!
       I had never prayed for healing before in that kind of way, but it was really cool! First of all, it was awesome that the first person I asked said yes. After I asked him and he told me about his herniated disks, my neck pain left. The fact that after I prayed he said he didn’t feel any different, might make some people consider the whole situation kind of a failure. But I don’t think it was at all. One thing I thought was awesome was the fact that when I asked him if his neck felt any different, he didn’t say “no,” he said, “Not at the moment.” The way he said that showed that he had hope that it would. I know that God is able to heal, and I know He loves Rodney.  When I was talking to my mom about it, I told her that I think maybe God wants to heal Him later instead of immediately after I prayed for him so that I wouldn’t see Rodney get healed and try to take credit for the healing or in some twisted way be prideful of the fact that God healed him after I prayed for him.  But I continue to pray that God will heal Rodney when I’m not there so that God will get all the glory.
         After I left, I went in search for some homeless people, because I had yet to find any.  I went to a park by the river, and I did find one! I gave him a couple sandwiches, but I couldn’t really have a good conversation with him because I couldn’t understand anything he said. But if he and Rodney were the only reasons I came to Chattanooga, then they were totally worth it!
       After I talked to him for a second, I kept looking in the park.  The park had a map of the world in the ground, so I sat on America and read my Bible and prayed for the country and all the places I’ll be visiting this year. When I opened my Bible, I opened it up to 2 Corinthians 2:13 which says, “I still had no peace of mind…so I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.”  I felt like that was confirmation that God wants me to move on to Atlanta earlier then planned!
          Today I am going on my final search for some homeless people (I got some leads on where to find them from some people at a college church service I went to last night with my high school friend that goes to UTC), but if I still don’t find anyone, I am leaving for Atlanta today!
         It’s kind of crazy because I don’t know exactly where I will be staying tonight, but I really feel like God wants me to move forward, and He won’t call me somewhere if He doesn’t have the way already mapped out.
         So keep me in your prayers and let me know if you know anyone or any programs in Atlanta!

3 comments:

  1. I am laughing at this not in the "haha" way but in the "I am so wow-ed that you are so open to God changing your plans and you keep moving foward instead of thinking 'I failed'". I love you and I miss you alot, Twinkie!!

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  2. I wonder if the man who couldn't speak clearly was mentally challenged? I work with mentally challenged adults and it breaks my heart to think of what would happen to them without devoted family members and Christian organizations to care for them. Stay strong and keep up the awesome work!!

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  3. Crystal! I love you and miss you so much too!:)
    And Sharon- That's possible, but I think he was just a bad mumbler haha.Thanks! And you too! Working with mentally challenged people I'm sure is a tough, but awesome job:)

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