written by Connie Kuykendall

There is nothing more fulfilling and faith-building than to know that Jesus has used you to meet the needs of someone who needs to know He cares. It’s more thrilling still to know that it was all Him making Himself known to that hurting one through you.

I call this my “granola story” and often tell it as an example of an opportunity missed. Several years ago a dear friend got the flu and then had a relapse. Consequently she was sick for about a month. I had done a few things for her like make a meal and take her daughter to play with mine. But one day the thought came to make granola for her family. I dismissed this as a silly idea and did not do it. Jump ahead to a conversation my friend and I had awhile later when she told me that during her illness her husband had said, “Would you ask Connie to make some granola for us?” She answered that she didn’t feel she should ask me to do that.

I realized that I had chosen to ignore the whisper of the Holy Spirit and missed an opportunity to bless my friend. I wish I could say that from that day on I always obeyed His prompting's but I’m sure that is not true. However, I do realize more and more that we are to put hands to the heart of Jesus. We are to be the means of expressing God’s love and care for others. He is sending us on His behalf to bless that one who needs to know He hears their prayers.

“Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10: 8b). God’s heart is to lavish love and blessing on us. He graciously wants to use us to express His heart to others. What am I hoarding for myself that I should be giving in Jesus’ name? For example, do I selfishly spend time doing what I want to do rather than giving my time to visit a friend who needs encouragement?

My friend Jennifer is undergoing chemo for a recurrence of cancer. This has been going on for over a year now. She recently wrote, “I rarely get visitors… [perhaps] people want to be asked to do something or to come and visit. They don’t realize that a big part of ministering God’s presence to one who is afflicted or suffering is going when the Holy Spirit has placed it upon their heart TO GO.”
Perhaps we stay away for fear of what to say. Gary Thomas, in his book The Beautiful Fight, says that before he meets with someone one-on-one he prays, “Father, help me to love this person with the love of Christ.” He strives then to “let the living, reigning Christ work through me to truly touch others.” When we do that, focus on just listening and loving, not scrambling to say something profound, the Spirit is free to speak through us. We’re then amazed to hear the other person say, “Thank you for what you said, it helped me so much.” You can hardly recall saying anything at all. Remember, we are rarely called to solve another’s problem. We are called to be there and listen. That’s enough.

Paul indicates that encouragement is vital to spiritual strength when he says, “I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to make you strong—that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged” (Romans 1:11, 12). I truly believe that there are those people in our lives who may actually fall away from faith when the scorching sun comes and there is no one to shelter them from the heat (see Matthew 13). However, we can strengthen the tentative roots of faith if we help another to see God in their difficult times.
In her book My Grandfather’s Blessings, Rachel Naomi Remen says, “Prayer is about our relationship to God but blessing is about our relationship to the spark of God in one another…When we bless others we offer them refuge from an indifferent world…When people are blessed they discover that their lives matter, that there is something in them worthy of blessing.”

Small gestures can affect others in profound ways. There are many simple and ordinary things we can do to bless others. We can have the privilege of conveying the heart of The Giver to a hurting friend. In Hebrews we are told to “encourage one another daily as long as it is called Today” (13:3a). What can you do this day to bring joy to another? It may be you need to make a phone call, write a note or invite someone to have coffee with you. Hey, maybe you need to make granola!