It’s not every day someone falls for you

When I was little, my mom would place little notes in my lunchbox and I would hide little notes to her around the house. I would love to write and find these little surprises throughout the day. To this day, I’ll randomly find post-it notes in my suitcase or hide them in my mom’s home.

At the time my parents got divorced, I was also going through a really tough break up. My mom and I would spend Monday mornings together before I would go to work and we’d just cry. We would read Jesus Calling and God would meet us in those moments, but we were also deeply sad. One day, I wrote a Bible verse on a note card and taped it to my mom’s cabinet. Then I wrote another. And another. And another. Pretty soon there were Bible verses taped up in every room. As we walked through that season, those verses became anchors we could hold on to while everything else around us was swirling.

Today, there’s a Bible verse my mom has taped up all over her house: “Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting You. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to You” (Psalm 143:8). She prays this every day and she has had the most beautiful random encounters with people. She walks through each day, eyes open, seeing who God may be bringing into her path. She looks for ways to love each day. Maybe it’s simply helping someone get something off a shelf or rescuing a boat that drifted away from a dock or praying for someone in the hospital — whatever it is, she looks at what is in front of her and follows God’s lead. She has some of the coolest stories from living her days this way.

This week, my mom stopped by my home and after she left, I noticed a note card with her handwriting on it. Written were the words of Psalm 143:8. I taped it on to my bathroom mirror and I prayed those exact words this morning. Then I hopped into my car to drive to church.

Well, God is pretty funny because He answered my prayer minutes later. He didn’t just show me where to walk — he showed me where to drive. I turned out of my driveway, looked to my right, and an older woman literally tripped and fell on the sidewalk right in front of me. Flat. Face down. Like what you see on America’s Funniest Home Videos. I pulled over and raced out of my car to make sure she was okay.

“Could you help me up?” she asked.

“Yes, are you in pain?” I asked. “Yes,” she replied. So we sat on the sidewalk.

One of her shoes had fallen off so I was helping her put it back on when I heard a voice behind me. “Is everything okay here?” A police officer had noticed us on the ground and also pulled over. “Yes,” I told the officer. “This woman tripped and fell.” While the officer called for the paramedics, I asked the woman if I could pray for her. I commanded all pain to leave her body in Jesus’ name and for peace to fill her.

“Do you feel better?” I asked. “Yes,” she replied.

After a few more minutes chatting, the paramedics arrived and I scooted off to my car. As I drove away, I thought about how peculiar that whole situation was. It’s not every day someone trips and falls in front of you.

But aren’t there people all around us who trip and fall? Aren’t some of us bruised and scraped by the storms of life? Aren’t we looking for someone to pick us up when we’re down? In this season, I am learning that sometimes you don’t need to “hear God’s voice” to follow Him. There are situations in our lives every day where we have the opportunity to love. These aren’t always in the form of people literally falling down in front of us, but if we take a moment to look around us, there are lots of opportunities to talk to someone who is lonely, encourage someone who looks discouraged or do some sort of random act of kindness just because.

God’s Kingdom is love. In God’s Kingdom, we give love away and then he brings even more love to us. We give that away and he brings even more. We don’t have to strive to figure it all out — we just take it one day at a time, eyes wide open and see what comes. Just like the Psalm says — show me where to walk. One step at a time. And if we don’t know where to walk, just start walking, and God will bring someone in your path. And you will find the love you are looking for by giving love away. It sounds counter-cultural because it is. But when you try it, you see that it works. It’s a beautiful way of doing life.

I dare you today to pray Psalm 143:8 — Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting You. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to You. Then keep your eyes open for who and what is around you. Ask God how you can best love them. And then love the heck out of whoever or whatever that is.

And if someone literally falls down in front of you, stop and love them well, too :)

Joyfully,
Lauren