Living Out Your Faith In Unusual Places

One night, as I stood on the street corner in Philadelphia, waiting at the bus stop, I saw a homeless woman.

She was standing near the building just behind me, but had all the telltale signs of being homeless: bags and bags of stuff (her belongings) and an unkempt and unclean look. And she was just sitting there, not truly at the bus stop, for you could tell she wasn’t going anywhere.

As I was in seminary at the time, studying urban missions, we studied the “poor” a lot. We were learning about what life was like for them, how hard it was, how many of them ended up experiencing homelessness, the structures that kept them there, and many other things.

I was learning how to live out my faith in the world and to care for the “poor among us.”

It wasn’t the first time I’d encounter a person experiencing homelessness on the streets of Philadelphia. You didn’t have to walk far. They were everywhere.

For someone who lived in the heart of the city, you passed them multiple times a day. Your heart would go out for them. Then one of them would scam you. And your heart might harden a little. It made knowing how to live out your faith a little harder.

So I stood at the bus stop, near the curb and away from the lady, so I didn’t encourage her to ask me for money, which I have a strict policy of never handing out. (Though I will often offer to buy them food or connect them with other services to meet their immediate needs.)

But this night, I was just trying to get home.

At this time in my seminary degree, I was taking a counseling class where we had an assignment to ask someone how we could be praying for them and then to pray with them aloud in that moment.

It was a stumbling block to me in my faith at the moment, because it was hard for me. I was really struggling to live out my faith in that moment and all throughout that assignment. It was hard for me, someone who wasn’t big on reaching out or initiating conversation or praying aloud one-on-one.

My assignment came to my mind though as I stood there, but I didn’t want to ask her.

I just wanted to be alone and to get home.

So I stood there and waited for the bus. It would be there quickly, and I’d lose the opportunity, or so I hoped and told myself.

But five minutes passed and there was no bus.

I really didn’t want to ask, but I was beginning to feel a consistent nagging inside telling me to ask her. I knew what a blessing it would be–to both of us– from the previous times I’d done this. But I didn’t want to do it that night.

I just wanted to get home…

Five more minutes passed…

Then ten…

Where in the world was that bus?!

Why was this urge to ask her so insistent?

And so I caved. I turned around to her and said, “Hello.” How was she? Was there anything I could pray for her?

(I had to jump right in before the bus arrived after all. Surely it would be there in only a few minutes…)

And she said, “Hi,” back to me. (She didn’t appear to be mentally ill, which I could tell from her response.)

And she shared how I could pray. And we prayed.

And it was beautiful.

And I knew God had put that on my heart for her and for me. I knew he had made this divine appointment so that in spite of me, this woman could be blessed by an intimate prayer, just for her, full of God’s promises for her.

I don’t remember the details. But that encounter has stuck with me for years and years.

I remember laughing with her and hugging her when the bus finally arrived (maybe ten minutes later!)

I waved as I left and it felt like we were intimate friends. Friends who had shared a little piece of heaven here on earth.

And it all happened in spite of me. It happened as I delayed and dawdled and hoped to lose the opportunity. It happened as I struggled to live out my faith in the day to day moments of life.

There had been a nudge, and that assignment for school, and the bus that didn’t want to come until I had done what God had asked me to do–to be a friend, in that moment, to this woman who was having a hard time.

What are some ways you feel God nudging you to action, but you struggle to carry them out? (Comment below.)

Other posts to help with living out your faith through prayer:

• Why Prayer is Important
• Who Should I Pray For?
• The ACTS Prayer Model
• How to Pray Through the Lord’s Prayer