“When Pride Blocks Blessings” by Rev Robin Gilbert
“Everything good comes from God. Every perfect gift is from him. These good gifts come down from the Father who made all the lights in the sky. But God never changes like the shadows from those lights. He is always the same.” ~ James 1:17 (ERV)
Recently, I was sitting at my favorite coffee nook, enjoying an iced coffee, listening to music and reading. As I looked up, to contemplate an article I had just read, I noticed a young lady getting off the bus. I watched as she struggled across the parking lot, making her way towards the table where I was seated. She sat down at the table next to me and just as she was settling in…I sneezed! “Bless you”, she said.
“Thank you.” We both lowered our heads, I went back to reading and she was looking at her phone, which I suspected was out of service. A minute or two passed and the young lady said, “You are the second godly woman I met this week.”
I looked up, “Me?”
“Yes,” she said. I asked why she made that comment, she replied because of the music I was listening to and then she added, “and when I said ‘bless you’ you said ‘thank you’ and smiled.”
She went on to tell me how some people reject her kind words because they know she is homeless. Then she told me about a wonderful lady whom she met at a local store.
She said the lady came up to her and told her that God had instructed her to ask about her life and to take the time to listen. So, she shared her life with this wonderful lady who had noticed her not because she was homeless, but because she was a person. After sharing her life story with this wonderful stranger, the stranger took her to a local hotel and paid for a room for the week.
As this homeless young lady shared her story, a large smile graced her face and her slumped shoulders began to rise. Once finishing the story, she said, “I guess there are nice, kind people in the world.”
“Yes, there are,” I replied.
Again, silence fell between us. After a minute or two, she said, “I feel kind of bad.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because I did not get her number or a way to contact her to tell her how thankful I was for what she did.” I asked if she thanked the stranger when she first got the room. She said yes, she did. I then shared with her that her thank you was sufficient. She shrugged, “I hope so,” then she said, “she sure was a blessing.” I replied by telling her that she was a blessing to and for the stranger. “Me?!” she asked with great big eyes, “How?”
I explained that the wonderful stranger was following the instructions of God and that she allowed God’s instructions to be carried out. I went on to say that the stranger was going to receive a blessing from God because she followed His instructions.
The young lady stared at me with the wide innocent eyes of a two-year-old, then she said, “You mean I was a blessing to someone, even though I am fat, homeless and can’t breathe without this oxygen tank?!”
I answered, “You are a blessing because God created you and everything good comes from God.”
“That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me,” she replied as a tear rolled down her cheek. We smiled at each other. She lowered her head for only a few seconds and then she sat up straight and said, “Isn’t it a beautiful day,” as she looked up toward the sky.
I smiled and said, “Yes, it is.”
She continued to look toward the sky and I continued to read. As I was reading I remembered something a friend told me years ago, when I was in need of help. He said, “If I ask you if you need help and then I offer it, and you refuse it, has it ever entered your mind that you may be blocking my blessing? I am trying to do what God instructed me to do.”
I could feel a smile growing on my face. I looked up and asked my friend for the day if she would like to join me for lunch. Once again, that beautiful smile spread across her face… “yes, Ma’am, thank you!”
For the next two hours, we ate lunch and talked about all of the things friends talk about.
As children of God, we should always remember that the Lord God provides for us and He expects us to love one another…unconditionally. And wouldn’t you do all that you could for those you love?
~ Written by Robin Gilbert ~
Robin is a former Pastor and an ordained minister and a native of Denver, Colorado, who made Huntsville her home in 1982. Robin and her husband, Minister Isaiah Gilbert conduct Real Life Bible Studies through their ministry Our Church Without Walls. She is the founder of the Alabama Christian Business Association, a faith-based nonprofit organization that aids in the startup and connection of Christian owned businesses, and she has authored and published numerous books among which are Dear God…It’s Me – A Meditation Journal, The Ministers Resource Book, and What is…Asked Javien, a Christian children’s book collection.
Robin is a proud mother of four adult children, a mother-in-law and a grandmother of five, which she thanks God for each and every day. A powerful, dynamic, speaker Robin uses the gifts of the Spirit to speak from her heart and soul with a genuine love for whom God made her and for what she does. When asked how and/or why she does all that she does, she simply replies…”I Am The Lord’s”.
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