Open Hands and Open Doors

The Lord answers our prayers in the most random of ways. I am learning each day not to question Him. He knows best, so I’m trusting He knows right where He wants me to be!

Let me explain…You know that Matt West song that I blogged about a couple of weeks ago? Well, I borrowed a few of his lyrics and I pray them every night before I go to bed and every morning when I wake up. “Father break my heart for what breaks Yours. Give me open hands and open doors. Put Your light in my eyes and let me see that my own little world is not about me.”

I can see where God is placing people in my life to test me and to make sure I am answering His call.

My first sign: In KC, there are people everywhere on the sides of the roads, holding up signs, asking for food, money, anything you have to give. I was on my way to the KC Free Health Clinic Friday afternoon to volunteer our services with some of my fellow Rockhurst OT/PT students. I was stopped at a red light and a woman who I swear looked just like the one in Matt West’s music video “My Own Little World” was sitting there. I thought to myself for a minute, and then remembered that I still had some food leftover in my lunchbox from that day to give her. As I handed her a Capri Sun and some peanut butter and crackers, tears began to stream down her face. She said to me, “God Bless you, child.” And I knew that God had opened that door for me.

My second sign: I was sitting in my Fieldwork Seminar class on a Tuesday morning. Just another day of OT school, except on this day we were talking about service-learning sites. My teacher began flipping through the slides and I thought to myself…How will I ever choose which one to go to? We were told to rank our sites from one to six. I didn’t even look at the names of the sites as I ranked them. As I numbered them, I asked God to place me where He wanted me. Last week, we got our site placements. I was assigned to a place called Operation Breakthrough. I couldn’t even remember what my teacher had said about this site, so I had to look it up on the Internet. As soon as their website loaded on my screen, I knew that my prayer had yet again been answered.

Operation Breakthrough was started by two nuns, Sister Clorita and Sister Berta. It is a non-profit corporation that has been in service for 40 years now as a place for child care for children of the working poor in the KC area. It started with only fifty children and now has around 600 children ages 6 weeks to 18 years old… with a waiting list!

The families that utilize Operation Breakthrough are not your average families. Let me just throw this at ya…More than 98% of the enrolled families live below the federal poverty guidelines (most far below them). About 25% of the children are homeless or near homeless, living in battered women's or homeless shelters or transitional living programs. Often they sleep on the sofas of friends or relatives, sometimes even living in cars, rundown hotels or abandoned buildings. About 25% of the children are in foster care or other placements due to abuse, neglect or other family crises. The average income of the families is $9,400.

I feel like God has blessed me with a servant’s heart. I am always looking to go on another service trip. Right now, however, I feel like I am being called to help those in my own backyard. So my prayer tonight continues…Father break my heart for what breaks Yours. Give me open hands and open doors. Put Your light in my eyes and let me see that my own little world is not about me.

I hope I never lose the desire to serve others, especially those less fortunate than myself.