Give Shatina the money that is in your wallet.
This was the thought that Heather Thompson Day didn’t know what to do with as she prepared to teach her college course. She’d been thinking about Shatina, a student who seemed disinterested in her class. But giving her money? Why? Was this just some strange random thought, or a prompting of the Holy Spirit?
Day didn’t follow through on the nudge at first. But when the thought prompted her again, she decided to go for it, however awkward the interaction may be.
As it turned out, Shatina was a single mother. She was trying to find the money for a box of diapers, asking friends who had nothing extra to loan her. One of those friends had just prayed with Shatina—who only allowed the prayer as a courtesy—for God to provide. And then, within minutes, there was Day, handing her $40 and telling her God told her to do it.
“Over the years, Shatina and I have stayed connected,” writes Day. “God has continued to work in her life, and she’s now a believer in Jesus. But even then—when she barely believed in God and did not even want to pray—her prayer mattered. This is the God we get to serve.”
Our random thoughts, of course, are not always the voice of the Holy Spirit. But when prompting to care for others continues to persist in us, and when that prompting clearly aligns with God’s commands in Scripture, well—it just might be a chance to participate with God in showing His character to the world.
Continue to ponder the power and purpose of prayer in our new CT Women Special Issue Teach Us to Pray, featuring articles from Day, Wendy Alsup, Vaneetha Rendall Risner, and others.
