“The LORD has made everything for its purpose…” Proverbs 16:4 (ESV)

 

Two Dollars

Walk His Way Revisited

I rarely carry cash with me, and it’s not just because I don’t have much of it. In today’s convenience-laden society, we can use our bank cards to purchase anything we want. There’s really no reason to carry cash anymore.

Several years ago, I somehow wound up with two dollars in cash, change from something, I don’t remember what. I carried those two dollars around for months! I’d spy them in my wallet, determined to use them on my next fast food run, only to completely forget about it and use my card. I’d put them in my pocket, thinking I’d remember, only to have them go through the wash. It’s rather ridiculous when I think about it. Who can’t remember to spend two dollars?

I’d spent the week in Mexico on a mission trip. Like all missions, it was wonderful and exhausting. We were heading home in our “I like to break down at inopportune moments” bus, and had made a stop for lunch. I wasn’t hungry, and chose to wait in the bus. At one point, I stepped out, and just looked around that dusty little Mexican town. In the distance, an elderly woman was walking with a little girl. It didn’t take me long to figure out that the woman was begging as she went from person to person. Saddened, I put my hands in my pockets as I watched her. My hand felt those all-too familiar wads of paper, and suddenly, I knew: the money was for her!

She eventually made her way to me, lowering her head and extending her hand. I placed those measly bills in her hand, and her face lit up like it was Christmas. Over and over she thanked me, and I was desperately wishing I knew more than a few words of Spanish. She looked at the bus, and even though she was speaking in Spanish, I could tell she was asking me about it. I told her, knowing she didn’t understand, that we were there for Cristo (Christ). I hope I remembered to tell her that Jesus loves her, one of the few phrases I know in Spanish. She thanked me again, and went on her way. I’ve thought of them often over the years, praying for them, and praying that I will see them again in heaven.

As I watched her, I marveled at how I’d carried those two dollars for months and months, until they were almost an irritation, only to know that God had planned all along what I was supposed to do with them. What had become nothing to me had made an elderly woman very happy. It makes me wonder what else in my life I am viewing as baggage, not knowing that God has a very specific plan for it. I’m going to keep my eyes and ears open, and my hands in my pockets.

Father, thank You for using the likes of me to bless those around me. May I ever be watchful when it comes to furthering Your kingdom. Thank You for Your provision for me, and for blessing that sweet woman and little girl that day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.