The most frequented place where I rub shoulders with the public is at Wal-Mart. Once in a while I’ve had the chance to witness to the cashier who is ringing up my purchases. Sometimes I’ve ended our conversation by praying for them. On a few occasions they’ve receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Regardless of their response, I’ve walked away quite happy!
One day at the check out I didn’t feel like I needed to witness. Instead, I simply said to the woman, “I’m a Christian. Is there anything I can pray with you about?” She said she really didn’t need anything, so I asked if I could pray a blessing over her. She agreed, and I prayed a simple prayer over her life and her day.
Most people just say “thank you” and I move on to let the next person in line check out their items. This time, though, I got a more meaningful response. “That just made my day,” the cashier said with a smile. “That just made my day!”
As I left the Wal-Mart parking lot, I couldn’t help the joy that bubbled up inside me. I’m sure anyone looking through my window and seeing my goofy, big smile would have thought I was crazy when no one else was in the car with me. I didn’t care. I had just made someone’s day!
I haven’t seen the woman since, but I hope her day – and her life – was impacted in a way that drew her closer to Jesus. Various other times when I’ve prayed for strangers in public, the prayer I prayed or the encouraging word I gave was exactly what they needed. At the time I didn’t have a clue what was going on in their lives . . . but the Holy Spirit did.
Proverbs 11:25 says, “A generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will be watered himself.”
We can never go wrong “watering” someone else’s life. Only God knows what circumstances might be causing them to feel bone dry, in need of some life-giving refreshment. We’ve all been there, and have always appreciated a kind word or prayer from someone else when we least expected it.
We may feel that our “watering can” isn’t full enough to share with anyone else. We’ve got trials of our own that have made the soil of our lives cracked and hard. At times like these, though, our can contains more than we think. We have the ever-flowing “rivers of living water” (John 7:38) bubbling up the inside of us – whether the sky in our lives is shining glorious blue or dropping giant rain drops from gray thunderclouds. The water is there, not because of the absence of circumstances, but because of a Holy Spirit who has promised to be there at all times (John 14:16).
Whether we feel like it or not, emptying our watering can into someone’s parched soil will always cause us to be watered ourselves. It’s the principle of “give and it will be given to you” (Luke 6:38). Listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit has great rewards. When he says, “Pour some water on this person,” He has a watering can of refreshing joy waiting to pour on us!
Christa Madrid 