Eyes Wide Open

As a rule, I try to live my life with my eyes wide open to my surroundings. I attempt to live out my faith and come along side those who are hurting because I know that is what Jesus calls me to do and because I feel most alive and full of joy when I love people the way Jesus loves me. In some way I feel like I am being healed as well in the process because I am learning to step out of my comfort zone and reach out and allow myself to be vulnerable.

Today my eyes were overwhelmed and it reminded me of the trips I have taken to Africa. My eyes were just visually overloaded at all that was before me; so many people with hurting eyes and so many needs and I knew it was just a small fraction of the homeless in Minnesota let alone the United States.

I found myself looking at the pavement at times and needing to take small breaks- needing to process it all. One particular story about a man whose parents kicked him out of the home when he was 14 years old hit me really hard today as he described to me the situation that caused him to be homeless for a time.
It was like a knife in my heart because my mom kicked me out about 2 months after I turned 16 even though it was against my dad's wishes. I was fortunate my grandparents took me in or I would have probably run away and ended up homeless myself.

The reality is homelessness happens for a variety of reasons. We need to care and we need to start living with Eyes Wide Open. It is not a stretch to say that any one of us could end up in this position given a few bad events that we had no control over. We have to decide to start seeing people, reaching out, loving, listening, sharing, and caring. We also need to step out in faith. God doesn't take you to places without equipping you. Let go of the fear; fear is not of God.

You never know how God is going to use your willingness to follow Him. Because of my willingness today, He brought a difficult memory bundled with suppressed feelings to the surface in order order to aide in healing through the story of homelessness.