I was sitting in the waiting room at the health department and there was only one other lady in the room with me. She started off by talking to me about my little boy who was dancing and singing while we waited. She told me to relish those days because they pass by so quickly. As a young mother, people tell me this a lot. I looked down at my cell phone and pretended to be busy so that I did not have to talk to this woman. However, she was chatty and I assumed on drugs. I never looked up as she continued to talk about the job interview she just came from, her children that had been living with her husband and his wife for the past year, and how difficult life seemed to be.

When she was called back I realized I had completely missed out on an opportunity to speak life into this woman when she clearly needed me to. I was too busy judging her and trying to keep to myself. I quickly prayed that God would send me another opportunity.

A few minutes later, a lady sat down across from me. She looked tired and after a few minutes of talking I discovered that she was pregnant with her second child. She told me her first son was premature and that he had spent 100 days in the NICU. She was worried that this baby would come too early. Here was my second opportunity. I could easily ask this lady if I could pray over her and her unborn baby. But, I was crippled by the fear of what she would think about me. My name was called over the intercom before I ever got the courage to speak.

God is constantly speaking to us. Most of the time, we simply tune Him out. But, when we listen to Him, God is faithful to speak directly to us. We must follow through with the task He assigns to us.

I will never know the rest of that lady’s story. I will never know if her son was delivered safely. I will never know if she will come to know my Jesus. But I do know that on that day, I did not do my best to glorify God and listen to his commands. I allowed distraction, fear, and doubt to get in the way of obedience. A simple prayer could have made a huge impact in the lives of two women that day but I allowed the enemy to have victory.