Have you ever had just the right message come at just the right time? I’ve had plenty of those moments-be it from sermons, a friend’s Facebook status, or what have you. But there’s something even more remarkable when a message comes directly to you from someone.
Just such a thing happened to me today. I checked my phone this afternoon and found a text message from a dear friend that simply read, “When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? Ps. 56:3-4. Have a great day friend, (his name).”
Encouraging words on any day, but for those to come at the moment they did on the day they did is nothing short of a small miracle. See, around the same time on the same day last year, I was being loaded up in an ambulance to be transported to another hospital after already one surgery and a week in one hospital. I knew I was sick, I knew something was horribly wrong and I was finally getting the staff to fully listen to me and run more tests. What they discovered was life-threatening and had to be repaired immediately.
I was terrified. I didn’t have a lot of trust in the medical personnel after the way my case had been handled up to that point. Then I found myself being shipped off to some other place I’d never been to be cut open by someone else I didn’t know. I couldn’t get a hold of my husband because of a cell phone problem (ironically my frantic text messages showed up on his phone more than a month later…thanks, ATT).
Life-threatening experiences have a way of sticking in a person’s memory. I’m not saying that I’m going around all traumatized and upset. Far from it. But on the anniversary of such an experience, it’s hard to not have flashbacks of the fear and mistrust.
So you can imagine that getting a text message like that in a moment like that meant a lot. It calmed my spirit and refocused my mind to the awesomeness of God rather than the downfalls of man.
My friend had no idea what my thoughts were today; he probably even sent that text out to several friends. But he listened to God’s prompting to send the message and it was the perfect message at the perfect time.
Have you ever had the urge to share a verse or an encouraging word but didn’t because you brushed it off as silly? I challenge you to never brush it off again. If you feel led to share an encouraging text message or status update or other message, do it! You have no idea who you might be blessing or helping.
I know I’m going to try and listen to those little internal prompts from now on!