Intentionality.
We were being taught about the power of God’s love and at this time at the
conference we were going to break-out and go into the community intentionally
loving those that many others have not been. While driving to a part of town
with another woman from the conference, we headed to a neighborhood that is
being reclaimed for God by a small group of missionaries who are living in the
neighborhood as He breaks down strongholds of oppression and darkness. While driving I was praying silently. I asked
God who He was going to have me connect with.
He said, “A broken-hearted
woman.” I followed up by asking Him how I would know it was her. He didn’t answer me.
Soon, we
pulled up on the block where our group would meet with the neighborhood missionaries.
Instantly, I saw along side of us as I was pulling up, a man who was carrying
his belongings and I saw more belongings being flung out at him. I told the
woman I drove with that he was being thrown out. The woman throwing all she
could get her hands on came outside screaming, throwing and shouting every
obscenity you could imagine and some new curse words I think she made up. I
knew instantly, “That’s my girl.”
We got out
of the car and placed our belongings in the trunk of my car while praying
together over the situation. I wasn’t scared. I knew this was my appointment. I
didn’t look behind me, but heard smashing as if she were beating a car. Then more obscenities and a metal rod or pipe
came flying at us and slid to a stop along side our feet. Again, I knew we were
not going to be hurt. I think I may have even had a small grin on my face. “That’s
my girl.”
The
remainder of the small group of people who were already there stood on the
other side of the street and had great concern on their faces for us as they
called us over. The screaming was still going and I said out in a regular voice
as I got ready to cross the street towards my group, the powerful name, “Yahweh.” Three times I said, “Yahweh,” and began to
cross the street. The noise and activity quieted and the man left.
Once
entering the building where everyone was seated, the leaders began to say where
they were going to go and serve. One of them said, speaking of the scene that
was witnessed, “Can you imagine how broken-hearted
she is?” I knew without a doubt that was God’s appointment for love. One of the
young women who lives and serves in that neighborhood said she was going to the
house. I told her I would too, because God had said He was sending me to a “broken-hearted woman.”
We got up
and went with another young woman who missions there, too and a gentleman who
waited outside and would pray. Knocking
on the door, one of the neighborhood missionaries spoke first when it opened.
“Are you okay, hon’? Can I give you a hug?”
Shirt soaked in tears and still streaming down her face, she opened the
door to us wider and nodded, “Yes” and let the three of us inside. Each of us held her and hugged her and told
her how beautiful she is and how much God loves her.
The LORD
began to guide me on what to say to her. “God loves you. He thinks you’re
beautiful. He loves you so much that today He sent us here to tell you He loves
you. He told me ahead of time that there would be a woman with a broken heart
and that God knows her heart, your heart, and He loves you and is here and has
been here. Today isn’t the end, but a
beginning for you and for your daughter.” Her almost one year old baby girl had
just learned to walk that week.
As God spoke
His love to her and allowed me to share in the parts of compassion where God
had restored my own broken-heart, she nodded and listened and received His
words to her. The other woman asked if she knew Jesus and had God in her life. She said she didn’t and said she had never
been to church. She then asked her if
she wanted Him in her life today. She nodded yes and we shared the gospel with
her of God’s love and Jesus’ forgiveness, cross and resurrection and how He has
taken every sin away. The young woman prayed out loud asking Him into her life
and added, “I want to go to church.” We prayed for her and asked God to heal
the broken pieces of her heart. Joy filled her. The Holy Spirit filled her and
the only sign of tears was on her still soaked shirt, but the joy on her face
was radiant.
God had a
Destiny for her and desired them both as mother and daughter. Because of His
love, what had earlier been a woman like a flaming, fiery marshmallow held in a
fire; was warm and gooey inside. One of the women who prayed took her to lunch
and the other picked her up that night for church. God had answered her desire
to go to church that very day.
Intentional
love is powerful. And, when God doesn’t answer you, He is definitely up to
something. If God had answered me when I asked how I would know the
broken-hearted woman and He had said, “She will be the one throwing the metal
pipe at you,” I may have turned around. God’s way is always best and often not
how we expect it to look.
Perfect love
casts out all fear.
Perfect love
can penetrate into every scene and make it the perfect place for His love and
healing.
