God repeats things to me.  Maybe it’s because I’m not listening well the first time.  Maybe it’s because I just don’t get it at first.  Or maybe it’s just for confirmation and emphasis.  But He does it a lot.

Over the course of the past week, the phrase in the back of my mind has been “orphans and widows”.  God tells us that true religion is lived out by caring for the orphan and the widow. James chapter one.  That is a familiar passage to me.  So it made sense to me that this would come to mind.

But over the past two days, I have been reading the book of Deuteronomy (in the bible), and the phrases about caring for the foreigner and the orphan and the widow were numerous.  Okay, God, I think You are trying to tell me something.

This is where I need to think a little outside the box.  I don’t know that many foreigners or orphans and just a couple of widows.  But what if I extend that same principle to, say, people new to church or the area or those who are not yet believers (foreigners)?  The passage says to remember that we were once foreigners – once new, once on the outside, once without Christ.  What if the orphans in my life are kids in my life who need a little extra love or attention, the misfits?  What if my widows are single moms who are overworked, overstressed and struggle with fear and loneliness?  These are people that are definitely in my life.  People that I can touch and love and help and be available to.  People, that I know without a doubt, can teach me something I didn’t know before.  People who have experienced a part of life that I have not and have a wisdom of things that I know nothing about.

Today I met with my new friend, Ramona.  We met through our kids at the youth group here and she is awesome.  We got together for coffee and three hours passed like three minutes.  We talked about many things, but among them, how God takes the difficult things in our life to ready us for ministry.  People are drawn to people they can relate to.  People who truly understand what they are going through.  People who have survived and come through and come out on the other side somehow better.

God has allowed me to experience things that should enable me and equip me to reach out to the lonely, the bereaved, the struggling, the hurting – i.e. the foreigner, the orphan, the widow.  So, Jesus, please help me to have my eyes open and my heart ready to respond to the people you bring across my path.