3 Tender Expressions of God’s Love ~ by Julie Earl
I was feeling out of sorts and exhausted, but as I walked into Walmart I asked the Holy Spirit to bless someone through me. About ten minutes later I was passing an aisle when a lady caught my eye. I prayed as I walked toward her, and then said to her, “As I was praying for you, I sensed the warmth of the Lord’s love for you, as if He wants to give you a warm hug.” I shared a few more sentences of what I sensed in regard to the Lord’s love for her.
“Thank you!” she said with surprise and delight. “I love Jesus very much, but I am completely overwhelmed and I really needed to hear that.” She went on to tell me what was going on, and I was able to pray with her and encourage her.
After I gave her a hug from Jesus and started to walk away, I turned and laughingly said, “I’ll see you again in heaven…hopefully soon! Jesus can come back any time now.”
A little later I was near the dairy section in the back of the store, and I had a faint impression for a lady nearby, so I stepped out by faith and shared, trusting God to give me more as I spoke. “As I was passing you,” I said, “I felt the Lord saying that you have a strong leadership calling and anointing. I see you blessing a lot of people and bringing inspiration and encouragement. I don’t know if you have a relationship with God…”
“Yes, I do! And that is crazy you should say that. I work for hospice.”
“God wants you to know that you bless His heart as you bless and help so many others!” We chatted a few more moments and she thanked me again. She was encouraged and so was I.
When I finished shopping and was checking out, I said to the young gal ringing up my items, “I was just praying for you, and I felt like God was saying that you have a tender heart. I see Him making it even more tender as you walk with Him.” I didn’t know if she was a Christian, but I felt this was the word for her. “Do you have a relationship with the Lord?”
“Yes, I do, but with all the problems in my life right now, I’ve been wondering if I’m doing something wrong and God is mad at me.”
“It’s important to remember that a lot of things that happen are not God’s will. We have the devil, the junk from a fallen world, and our own fleshly issues that create problems in our lives. Jesus told us to pray that God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven because God’s will often isn’t done. God doesn’t want early death, disease and all the other junk that comes at us. Jesus came to give us abundant life – not all those messes.”
“That’s true,” she said. We chatted a few more moments as she finished up.
“The Father wants you to know He is proud of you and you are doing a good job. Hang in there!”
“Thank you so much!” she said with a sweet smile as I said good-bye.
I prayed as I walked out of the store. “Thank you, Holy Spirit, for tenderly loving on these three ladies this evening! Thank You that You will continue to touch their hearts and minster Your love to each of them. How I love tuning in and simply expressing Your tender love. You are amazing!”
Julie Earl
January 26, 2016