I’ve been listening to old Joyce Meyer teaching CD’s from years ago. The dogs cringe when I say, “Let’s get yelled at”, and her voice comes booming into the house from the analog radio/CD player. They get all excited when they hear me burst out laughing because somehow she gets away with poking fun at we Christians.

I don’t have many Christian friends, but I have enough to offer a spiritual check-in when needed. It brings me great joy to love the lost and to shine a light into the lives of people who aren’t sure what to believe. One of my closest friends is like that and she smiles every time I mention God even though we have different beliefs. What she doesn’t realize is how often He uses me to stir up some goodness in her life.

My friend lives alone and is single, so we have a lot in common. My morning walk takes me by her house, but I’ve been concerned over her well-being. Her house is one of the originals, like mine and it has these huge windows in each room at the front of the house, but I’ve noticed for a while now, the drapes aren’t open as I walk by.

They used to be open at the crack of dawn to let the light in because the morning sun bathes the front of her house, but recently they’ve remained closed later and later which indicates she’s closing the world out.

Last Friday, we had a chance to visit and catch up, but I felt led to do more listening than talking as she poured out her heart. She had been hurt unintentionally by a couple of family members and was holding onto the pain. I offered validation for how she was feeling, which she was thankful, but encouraged her to move on. What I really wanted to say to her was forgive them like Jesus did when He was nailed to the cross. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)

Her family is oblivious that she’s feeling used and disappointed in their behavior, but quoting scripture would cross that invisible line between friends.

I returned home and pondered how to help her feel loved which brought me to a basket of notecards. I found one with 2 penguins on it having coffee and decided to write a note. Each month I come across a quote that gets my attention and I like to print it out to hang it on the wall above my desk. Sometimes I’ll share it with others when I mail them a letter and print a copy to send to them. I saw this month’s quote pinned above my desk and felt it was something my friend needed to be reminded of.

Monday morning I went for a walk and dropped the notecard along with this meme into her mailbox and noticed the drapes were closed, but the following morning I walked by her house to find all of the drapes open!

Maybe you’re thinking, “What a coincidence!”, well, coincidence in my world is when God wants to remain anonymous. My heart was happy to see her drapes open so early that morning and I was encouraged by this.

We often long for a grand calling from God, missing the small ways He wants to use us every day. To lift up my friend, I just used what I had on hand and yes, it never feels good to be used by people… but by Him…we jump at the chance to be used.