“I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.”—1 Timothy 2:1 (NLT)

In January, I wrote a post called, In God’s Image. I had mentioned how when a friend of mine gives a gift to a homeless person, she asks their name and how moved I was with when I did this. When I say a prayer for the homeless, I still mention John by name but also for a man I gave a gift to a few weeks ago…Shannon. As I pulled my car forward after the light turned green, Shannon had a big smile on his face and waved to me. It really did matter that I looked him in the eye, asked his name and let him know I was going to pray for him.

God convicted me that I needed to start doing the same things with the gifts I have been giving away. In the past, when I would give someone a gift, I would look at the person’s name tag and make sure I said their name as I gave them their knit item. If it is a store I frequent often, in my head, I will say a prayer for them when I see them.  However, over time, I have forgotten many of the names.

The past 5 months as I have been giving away my gifts, as soon as I get in my car, I got to the Notes section on my phone titled,  Names. I write down the business name as well as the person who received the gift. This has helped me to pray for them by name now. 

This past Friday, my daughter and I were looking for candles for her wedding. We thought they were located at the front of the store so we didn’t get. a cart. To our surprise, the store had reorganized and they were now located in the back section. My daughter started to load the candles in her arms, and I told her to wait until I got a cart. A worker stocking the shelves overheard us and said, I’ll go get you a cart. 

When she came back, I asked if they had any more candles. They didn’t but she offered to look up which other stores did.  She also let us know since, we were buying the stock they had, they would be reordering more and to check back on Thursday when they get a new shipment. We were really thankful for her help. 

Earlier this week, when I was checking out at another store with a super friendly checker, I felt God impress on my heart to bless her with a gift. I was in a rush and ignored Him. I felt so guilty about it, I even went back the next day and the day after to see if she was working…she was not. I really felt like I had blown it.

However, God gave me another chance with, Kayla. This time, I was not going to ignore the Holy Spirit nudging me to give someone a gift. I started with my line, I know you may think I am weird, but I knit gifts to give away to people that a make a difference in my day, so I have something to give you. I asked her if she liked Chick-fil-A (there was one across the street) and she let me know she did.

I had a knit gift card holder with a Chick-fil-A card as well as a scripture tucked in it. I again, thanked her for all of her help and told her, There is a gift card for you to enjoy. I pray as I make my gifts and ask God to lead me to who to give it to, and He led me to you.”  She responded, You have no idea how much I needed this today. She is right, I didn’t know, but God did. I also mentioned there was a scripture in there too. I print random tags with scriptures, so I am not sure which one it was, but I have no doubt, God divinely had the one that she needed to hear. This is what happens when we partner with God. 

As soon as I got in my car, I added Kayla’s name to my Notes. I now pray for her by name, when she comes to mind. I also made sure when I got home that I did the store’s online survey to let them know what a great job she is doing. You may not be comfortable giving a gift to a random worker in a store, but how many of us (me included) throw away all of those receipts that say, Are we doing a good job? Let us know with the website to fill out a survey.

I assume that people are more likely to fill out those surveys when they are dissatisfied with their service. My challenge to you this week is to look at the bottom of your store receipts. If you see an opportunity to do a survey and someone at the store helped you, greeted you, was wiping down carts or retrieving carts, ask their name and thank them for taking pride in their job. Take a few minutes of your day to go online to recognize their service.

I may have blown it early this week by not blessing the other woman, but because we serve a God who forgives our disobedience when we repent, He gave me another opportunity to share His love and give hope to someone who needed it. When my desire is to spend time with God, partnering with Him comes naturally. It isn’t forced.

Dear Lord,

You know how much I desire to share Your love with others. Forgive me when I miss opportunities to be a blessing to someone else due to poor time management. Help me deflect the enemy’s lies that I am too busy. You are never too busy for me. Help me to live out 1 Timothy 2:1….pray for all people and for You to use me to intercede and pray on their behalf. I thank You for giving me second chances to share Your message of hope to those You put in my pathway. It is in the name of Jesus that I pray these things. Amen.

July Memory Verse:

Memorizing Hebrews 10:24 is a reminder for me to be thinking of ways I can encourage others in my small groups.

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,”—Hebrews 10:24

Please make sure you tweet @KnitPrayShare or share your projects on the Knit, Pray, Share Facebook page or Instagram using the hashtag #KnitPrayShare. Be sure to attach a tag to whatever gift you make.