This painting hangs on the wall at a coffee shop on Taft Street in Houston. My friend and I happened to sit close by it as we sipped coffee and discussed life.
The nails that currently hold up this piece of art, at one point, held up the One who this picture has captured and the message behind it, IS LOVE!
As I curiously sat and watched, some people would walk by LOVE and NOT notice Him, while others noticed LOVE but immediately rejected Him.
Yet, even though this “act of LOVE” happened over two thousand years ago, He still continues to beckon people and draw them in like the ocean tides.
Just as my friend and I were wrapping up our coffee date, a man who appeared to be in his early twenties laid his body at the foot of this painting and began to weep. The Holy Spirit nudged us to go over to the man. My first thought was, “I can’t go over there and disturb him. Besides, I don’t know what to say.” Although the “nudging” was getting stronger, so we surrendered our human reasoning and made our way to this man. The moment I knelt beside him, he began to weep even louder and so I started to pray out loud. As I opened my mouth, words began to form that could only come from the Lord. I was praying very specific things for a complete stranger. I was speaking destiny into his life, through these prayers, without knowing his name. Afterwards, he told me that he had decided to jump off a bridge later that day and end his life. But the specific words the Lord spoke through me, to him, convinced him that God had a plan and that moment, he chose LIFE!
I often think about this story. What if I would have ignored the Holy Spirit’s prompting to go and see about this man who was hurting? Would the story of him choosing LIFE that day, turn out differently?
Jeremiah 29:11- “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans for hope and a future!”
The nails that currently hold up this piece of art, at one point, held up the One who this picture has captured and the message behind it, IS LOVE!
As I curiously sat and watched, some people would walk by LOVE and NOT notice Him, while others noticed LOVE but immediately rejected Him.
Yet, even though this “act of LOVE” happened over two thousand years ago, He still continues to beckon people and draw them in like the ocean tides.
Just as my friend and I were wrapping up our coffee date, a man who appeared to be in his early twenties laid his body at the foot of this painting and began to weep. The Holy Spirit nudged us to go over to the man. My first thought was, “I can’t go over there and disturb him. Besides, I don’t know what to say.” Although the “nudging” was getting stronger, so we surrendered our human reasoning and made our way to this man. The moment I knelt beside him, he began to weep even louder and so I started to pray out loud. As I opened my mouth, words began to form that could only come from the Lord. I was praying very specific things for a complete stranger. I was speaking destiny into his life, through these prayers, without knowing his name. Afterwards, he told me that he had decided to jump off a bridge later that day and end his life. But the specific words the Lord spoke through me, to him, convinced him that God had a plan and that moment, he chose LIFE!
I often think about this story. What if I would have ignored the Holy Spirit’s prompting to go and see about this man who was hurting? Would the story of him choosing LIFE that day, turn out differently?
Jeremiah 29:11- “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans for hope and a future!”
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