Time and time again, I looked into those sad, sorrowful eyes as I drove by on my way to work. I made excuse after excuse, “Oh, I just don’t have (time, cash, food, etc.).” Each day leaving the homeless woman on the corner hungry and empty handed. Something inside me kept urging me to plan ahead so that I could stop and give her something, but I silenced that voice with excuses. The voice of the Holy Spirit continued to urge me to stop and help the woman, each time it got easier to make an excuse, and each time my heart became more distant from the Lord. I decided that I would just pray for the woman when I saw her, and that would be good enough, right?

Wrong. There was a reason that I continued to feel convicted after driving away from the woman each time. Yet I kept on choosing to walk in myown selfish ways. Finally, one day the Holy Spirit captivated my mind and heart once more and closed the distance between us through the lesson offered from James 2:14-17. If I truly love God, acts of service- like sacrificing time, cash, food, etc. should come out of an overflow of my heart. What good would simply praying for the woman on the corner do when the Lord has blessed me and given me opportunity to be an enabler and provider for that sister in Christ. That would be equivalent to holding an umbrella outside during a rainstorm and praying for the umbrella to open as rain pelted down on you, instead of using the capability you have been given to open the umbrella yourself.  Our love for the Lord is to overflow from our lives into the lives of others through our actions. Without that overflow, are we truly walking in faith at all? The choice is ours. Will you open the umbrella?

Photography: shelbseab