The Works of God

Two weeks ago on my birthday my sister and niece took my family out to a wonderful Mexican restaurant.  After ordering our meals, a stranger approached me and asked if he could pray for Paul.

As I’ve written before, this happens occasionally when people notice he lives with disabilities.  After asking permission, he then asked this question:

Do you have any unrepentant sin in your life?

If you go to the link above, you know that I struggle when strangers intrude into my son’s life with unsolicited offers to pray for him. And a question like that is full of self-righteous opportunities for reply!

But this was different; God protected my heart this time.  God used that episode back in February, and Dianne’s wise counsel at that time, to get my heart oriented differently.

I engaged him in conversation, discussed some of the Biblical texts around disability and healing, and found a man who didn’t know all the Biblical texts I brought up, but he knew Jesus and was confident in his salvation because of who Jesus is.

So, I let him pray for my son.  Paul was not healed, but I think Larry from Texas and his family were encouraged that they had met another family that trusts the promises of God.

And Dianne remarked later at how kind it was that he took that bold step to approach a stranger.  He could not have known how we would respond, but he came anyway, in faith.

I don’t think I would ever start a conversation with the same words that he did.  But that really isn’t the point, is it.  He acted for the good of his neighbor who he didn’t even know, because Jesus was very real to him.