Embracing Second Chances

Throughout my life I feel I have made some bad choices and then have had to live with the regret. As my relationship with God became stronger, I prayed to be led by the Holy Spirit’s power of discernment to follow His prompting since making my own decisions had not always worked very well. This change in following the Holy Spirit was helping my life go smoother for the most part, but the devil knew my worst weakness, which is fatigue.

We had moved into a home that needed renovating. We decided to first demolish the kitchen. For about four weeks we had no kitchen leaving us to either eat out or microwave frozen dinners. This became taxing. One evening after working all day, working on the kitchen, and not eating all day, I was exhausted and extremely hungry. We decided to order Chinese food. My son and I went to pick it up. In the parking lot was a young man who was clean, but you could clearly tell he lived place to place with little means. He waved me down, but after making eye contact with him, I drove away too concerned with my own needs.

All night I did not sleep. I asked God to forgive me for not ministering to this young man and instead taking care of my own needs. I spent the rest of the night wondering how many times I have missed an opportunity to witness to another person because I was too concerned about myself. During my sleepless night I prayed for a second chance to minster to this young man, feeling slightly hopeless this would happen given the transient lifestyle of homeless people.

About a week or so went by and during this time I often thought about how God is gracious and gives us second chances in situations because of His love for us. One afternoon I was in the same parking lot and I saw this young man. I immediately got out of my car, gave him money for food, a tract about salvation, and told him I would pray for him. I have not seen him since, but God provided me with the reassurance that He forgives us and gives second chances. It also provided a lesson in being aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives if we listen. I hope it does the same for you.