She was a shy woman, desperate for a friend, longing for another human being to walk alongside her. She heard the words spoken from the wise man in the pulpit, “look around, step out, take a chance,” but she could not. She was just not quite there yet.
There came a woman who saw a need. She reached out, but the shy woman could not take her hand. In the secret places of her heart she whispered, “please don’t give up on me,” while fear overcame her taunting her to push the other away.
Each Sunday the woman hoped that the other would see fit to look past the barricade that surrounded her. One Sunday at a time, the bricks of the wall began to come down. The Persistent Hand of God was reaching down through the kindness of one of His children.
That shy woman was me. The woman who saw the need was my friend Gail. Gail kept reaching out when others gave up. She saw something worthwhile. She walked through the gates of her own personal comfort into unknown territory; she stepped out. She was obedient. She loved me in a way that no other, besides God, had tried. She was the human expression of His love, exemplifying the second greatest commandment by her words and actions.
It’s been almost five years since Gail took that walk with me. From God’s perspective, it was more than one woman befriending another. God was training me. I was being lead by example. This past summer, I too felt a calling. “Look for someone who can’t seem to make the first move. Look for someone who longs to be loved by me and express my love to her. Walk with her.”
I’m still that shy woman and that may never change. But I know one thing for certain, we cannot profess to know the love of God and not express it to others. God never let Moses get comfortable, or Joshua, or Gideon, or Esther, or Paul; He’s not about to accept it from us.
Wherever you are right now in your walk there is someone who feels exactly like I once did perhaps how you once did. They don’t feel as if they belong, but they want to; they need a walking partner. Will you – can you – stand back and do nothing?
“And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14.
