It wasn’t where I had expected to hear from God.
Sure, I had been praying.
Asking.
And I had hoped that sometime, somewhere, I would get an answer.
But I sure wasn’t expecting it then.
And definitely not there, of all places.
For years I have read the Bible and sought to put its words into practice.
But recently I had been finding a theme popping up all over the Scriptures that I was woefully amiss in addressing.
I was not sure how I could have missed it, given the multitude of verses on the subject, but now here it was clearly before me:
God’s heart for the poor and needy.
The more I read, the more aware I became of my shameful neglect of that which was so important to the God I said I followed.
So I began to pray, “God what do you want me to do?
I prayed this for months.
Asking God to show me how He would want me to respond to His deep compassion for the lonely, the broken, the outcasts, the destitute.
“What do you want me to do?”, I asked over and over.
And I listened for His answer in my prayer times and when I was at church.
But the answer did not come.
Until one sunny, summer afternoon.
I was meeting a couple of people from church.
We met at a convenient location not commonly known for spiritual visions or insights.
We weren’t fasting or on our knees begging God for direction.
And yet there, in the middle of our lunch, God answered my prayer.
Surrounded by people laughing, talking, ordering and eating, God gave me the idea of how I could be His hands and feet to a hurting world, to seek justice and offer dignity to those in desperate places.
He answered my prayer.
In the most unlikely place.
The Rocket Burrito.
The birthplace of Mercy Market in July 2008.
God is good like that, isn’t He?! I mean, Rocket Burrito, not in the beauty of the Beartooths where you love to hike, not on the shores of a shimmering Minnesota lake you love to return to, not in the words of a Gospel song you love to sing…no, He chose Rocket Burrito. How like God to choose a place that is basic, not grand, perhaps a littke noisy, not peaceful. Sort of like a manger, a bag of stones and a slingshot, a few fish and loaves of bread. I love how He works, and I love that you listened.
Absolutely marvelous!
I love your heart for the Lord and His work.