An influential contact can make things happen

She spoke in a low tone. Her voice sounded rather subdued, not like her usual vibey and bubbly self. I could tell something was wrong even before she told me. She’d been working on an incredible project and was excited about it. Super excited. I’d seen some of her work and she was killing it. The project held a lot of promise and I was proud of my friend. Fast forward to this week when I got a message from her. It seemed she’d hit a snag.

She wasn’t getting the payment and recognition for her hard work and for the results she’d delivered. She’d made good on her end of the bargain and the other party was failing to deliver on theirs. Excuses abounding, they kept pushing her from pillar to post and despite her efforts, the other party seemed to be getting away with not honouring their agreement. Meanwhile, she needed to pay the service providers she’d worked with. “I feel defeated,” she said.

“I’m crying out to God saying, ‘Lord, you’re my father. Where are you when evil men seem to prosper? Where are you to defend the defenceless?’ I wish that I knew someone, someone influential that I could call,” she bemoaned. “I don’t have a contact who can step in, deal with these guys, and then my payment would just come through.” As she spoke, my heart went out to her. I could tell she felt demoralised and was at her wit’s end.

I responded to her voice note, encouraging and empathising with her as best as I could. She’d been planning to put together a testimony but was waiting until she was in a better frame of mind. I get that. I’d have probably done the same. I’d guess that we all probably would. Yet, I think it’s just as powerful, if not more, to testify and give God the glory when we feel dejected, when we don’t feel like doing it, when we haven’t seen the end result yet, when we’re still waiting for a breakthrough. I think that’s what faith is – trusting and glorifying God when we don’t know how it’s going to work out.

I shared this with her and ended off with, “I know it sounds cheesy. I know it sounds corny, but you do know somebody. You know God. Listen, this is the creator of the universe. It doesn’t get more influential than that! I’ve seen him, time and time again, come through when there seemed to be no way out. Yes, he doesn’t always come through for us in the way or the timing that we anticipate but he does always come through.”

She later told me that whilst she was still listening to my voice note, her mum called and told her that God had placed a Bible verse on her heart – Psalm 118:22. She shared that she didn’t know who the verse was intended for but she encouraged my friend to read it and meditate on it then sing a song called “Take All the Glory.” When she got off the phone, she listened to the rest of my voice note and I seemed to be saying the same thing at more or less the same time – the glory belongs to God despite the circumstances.

My friend took that to mean that God was speaking to her, perhaps not in the way she wanted him to respond to her but he was responding nonetheless. She felt much better after that call and voice note. She felt enlightened. Meanwhile, I was encouraged, touched, and inspired by her experience. I still feel grateful and honoured that God partnered with me to minister to my friend, that I could play a small part in helping her in her situation. She does know someone very, very influential indeed 😉, someone willing and able to influence events for the good of those He loves.

Love,