Not By Accident
May 23, 2021 | by The Fellowship
It was late in the day and I had just finished mowing the grass. I was hot and tired and had not started dinner yet. However, I asked my husband, who had been stuck upstairs in his office all day working, if he wanted to go for a walk around the lake. It is just a few blocks away. He said yes and off we went.
Normally, we walk around two adjacent lakes in our subdivision, but I was so tired that we agreed to just do the big lake and skip the second one. Our usual route is to begin at the north end and work our way counter-clockwise until we get back to the same point and then return home. Even if we do not talk much, it is nice to have these walks together at the end of the day and enjoy God’s creation all around us.
On this particular day, there was a large running or exercise group using the path around the lake, and we kept having to move to the grass to give them space to run by. It was a little annoying. We almost gave up and talked about turning around to go home. But something prompted us to keep going! However, we did talk about bailing out halfway once we got to the south end of the lake.
By the time we got there, the runners were starting to disappear. I suggested that we keep walking and maybe turn off one street early since I was so tired. There are four intermediate streets before we get to the main street on our usual route home. For some reason, as we got to street #3, out of the blue I said, “Let’s go down here.”
The first thing we noticed was a quite elderly lady sitting on a rock ledge in front of her house. We waved hello and kept walking. But she called out, “Can you please help me? I cannot stand up!” We went over to her and I noticed she had scrapes on her arms, some of which had bled onto her dress. She was quite frail. Because her yard had been newly mulched, she told us about coming outside to look at it -- but losing strength and having to sit down. As she continued to talk, some of what was being related did not make sense. It became clear that she has some kind of dementia.
We asked if she wanted to go to the hospital and have her scraped arms looked at. Insisting that she was OK, this lady asked us to just help her walk back into her house. She said she lived all by herself, but that seemed unlikely to us.
With one of us on either side, we managed to get her inside and seated in a chair. Then I got her some cold water. After a few minutes she said, “I am okay now. Thank you for your help.” With that dismissal, we reluctantly left -- but I felt so uneasy just leaving her there. As we started walking back home, I decided to knock on the door of the house next door. Thankfully, a young lady answered and I explained what happened. This neighbor said that the lady did indeed have a husband who was away at work, but she had his phone number! She agreed to call and let him know what happened.
I have learned over the years that such promptings and abrupt decisions are not me, but in fact, the Holy Spirit. Sometimes He does this to protect me. Other times, like this one, He is guiding me to be His hands and feet for someone in need! What a relief that this lady was being protected by our Lord! What a blessing to be the answer to somebody's prayer!
A Neighbor Waking By
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”
Romans 8:26