The Homeless Connection

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All of us can identify with some aspect of homelessness. Most of us haven't experienced the actual physical condition of being without a home, but with such misfortune comes shame, rejection, a loss of dignity, depression, a plethora of conditions that set into the mind and heart. We've all felt these things and we've all felt like outcasts or rejects at one point in our lives, some more than others. But knowing each other's pain is how God uses us to pick one another up again. We're all islands, looking like individuals with our different economic states and different ways of looking and talking..but the truth is, we're all connected in the deepest level. We're all connected in that we can affect each other eternally.

Yesterday I met a few homeless people that, though our encounters were short, I'm still thinking about and praying for because I connected with them through my own deepest needs and pains. A soul connection.

My favorite was Deale (pronounced "DL"). We were walking by and didn't see him in his little fort, but he peeked out and asked us politely for some water. He was a man of God. When we asked Deale what he needed prayer for, he told us right away, "faith." And to walk righteously with God. When I started praying for an increase of faith for him, it automatically took me to the very night before, when I was sharing with my church group my prayer requests. "I need faith." I knew that place he was in. I was in that place where all I needed was faith..faith that everything would get better, faith that there was something worthy beyond this life, and faith to keep hoping and trusting a mysterious God.

When we finished praying, he had tears in his eyes and expressed so much appreciation. It's not like we peered into his soul in a mystic way and prayed out the most specific things for him. We prayed simple things..but to him, those simple things of faith and strength to walk with God were his heart cries at the moment. That struck my heart forreal.

Comments

Serendipitous Tris said…
really like this. simple but powerful stuff. thanks for sharing.
November 29, 2011 at 2:42 AM
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