God knows what you need

A friend of mine has had a difficult 18 months. She was assaulted by a work colleague whom she thought was a friend and, though he was dismissed, found her own position in the organisation was no longer bearable thanks to the attitude of leadership and some co-workers. For the sake of her own emotional, physical and mental health she resigned a few months ago in an attempt to leave that misery behind. Then lockdown happened. Jobs can be hard to find in South Africa in the best of times but the restrictions enforced because of covid 19 make it near impossible at the moment. She was left isolating alone without an income and few ideas of what the next step would be.

God never ignores the pleas of his children.

Instead of turning her back on God she called to him in her distress. He heard and answered, not waving a magic wand to make everything go away but showing her areas of herself that she should work upon, asking her to trust him, even through the valley of the shadow of death. There was no way round, she had to go through the experience but she would not be going through it alone.

Slowly her vision started to clear and she began to discern the direction God was pointing to her. She heard his promises. Her ideas and dreams became more concrete, centring around the skills and talents she has, but people kept backing away, coming close then changing their minds. Well-meaning relatives encouraged her to leave the town she was convinced God wanted her to remain in, to go back to her home province and get a menial job. On one hand that made sense. She was getting discouraged, she needed to pay the rent; the wind and the waves were distracting her, taking her eyes away from Jesus (Matt. 14:30-31) and she was almost ready to give up saying, "I feel useless."

That afternoon she felt strongly that she shouldn't go on her normal walking route but instead turn the other way. Not knowing why, she did. After a while she met an aquaintance from church who excitedly told her about the sponsorship she'd been granted from a local charity to pay the fees for cookery school. My friend had also felt that she should get more training, in her case in sewing skills, but had no way of paying for the classes. Here was a possible solution, she too could apply to the charity for a grant towards the fees.

She continued walking, her head full of ideas of a business using her marketing and business abilities combined with opportunities for other women to use their sewing skills, working together in a way that honoured God and provided a livelihood. Would that even be possible for someone with no support network or capital?

She came to a building and went inside. At the back was a woman with three sewing machines. This woman was living the dream that my friend had. It was possible, and this was the encouragement she needed to keep her going through the long slog ahead.

"Your Father knows what you need," (Matt. 6:8) whether that's practicalities, ideas or encouragement coming just at the right time.