A couple of weeks ago, for the first time, I acted on a thought in the presence of a stranger. It sounded like my thoughts do. Just, you know, a thought. At first I hardly gave it another thought (no pun intended!) but it persisted. Suddenly a new thought crossed my mind: “what if The Lord means for me to speak this out to this person?” I want you to understand something here; this was not any special thought for this person. It was simply information about her: she is a single mom with a little girl. That was it. Nothing profound, nothing special.

For a moment, I brushed it off, but it would not stop in my head. “Well Lord, is this You? Do you want me to do something with this? Is there something you want me to get across here to her Lord?” And just like that a new thought came: “there is something going on between her and her mother.”

I’ve spent enough time with women to know that this thought could mean there’s trouble in this camp. It can indicate bitterness or forgiveness issues, two things that will wreak havoc in a person’s life.

So the important thing for you to understand here is that this particular thing has not happened to me before, this getting information about a person from whom I believed was The Lord. I took about five minutes to chew on this one and then knew there was only one way to know for sure if it was indeed The Lord; I would have to test this one out. Finally, I threw it out there.

“I don’t mean to get personal, but are you a single mom?” I asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
“And do you have a little girl around 6?”
“Actually she’s 8.” Hmmm, ok, I missed the age but I was very encouraged that the child was female.
“Is there something going on between you and your mom?”
She looked at me and hesitated before answering, “I was taken from my mom when I was a little girl.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Are you in relationship with her now?” I probed.
“Well I see her about once a year, usually around Christmas.”
Now the hard part. “I hope you won’t take offense at this, but I believe The Lord wants you to work on this situation.”

And as easily as it began, we were done. I thought I saw her eyes welling up with tears just as she said, “Thank you,” and then left the room (she had just given me a massage and I had waited until the end to bring this up).

Now I panicked. “Was that You, Lord? I didn’t do that very well, did I? I didn’t get a chance to say anything else to her, to help her know what to do!” Inwardly I was feeling very awkward about this, like I had bumbled it terribly. Just as quickly, I felt a calm reassurance inside about what the next step might be.

After dressing quickly, I walked out of the room we had been in and quickly asked the receptionist if my young mom was still there (it was the end of the day). She told me that the woman had left for the day. OK, so now I knew what to do. I asked for a piece of paper and an envelope and quickly wrote a note to my young masseuse. I told her I hoped I hadn’t upset her but that The Lord wanted their relationship healed. I can’t quite recall how this all came out, but I told her that if there was bitterness and/or unforgiveness involved between them, The Lord had a plan for it all to be healed, that all she needed to do was to confess it to Him and ask His forgiveness and He would show her how to proceed with getting her and her mom’s relationship to a very different place than it was. I gave her my phone number if she wanted to talk briefly about this. I sealed the note inside the envelope and left.

I haven’t heard from my young masseuse but I am at total peace with this situation. As I’ve pondered it, I believe The Lord gave me a Word of Knowledge in order to plant some seeds or to confirm in this young woman’s life that truly God does exist and He has a plan.

I don’t need to know the outcome.  Sometimes we get to sow, sometimes we get to reap.  But always, I believe, we need to be listening for the still, small Voice.  In this instance, I thought it was me until that no longer made sense.  Once heard, we always have a choice, to act on the word or not.  I’m so glad I acted on this one in spite of the fact that this was new for me.  His Voice becomes more and more familiar through each encounter and it so comforting.  Our Father in Heaven wants us to listen carefully and act.  I haven’t always done that, but I’m learning to just do it!