Streetlights began to blink on overhead as she wandered the neighborhood. Walking was supposed to be an escape from reality, but the memory of the morning persisted.

Sharon had fought her way through rush hour traffic to arrive at her workplace. She had never been late and today would be no different. She greeted co-workers on her way to her desk before she faced the paperwork she needed to attend to. She did not understand the work ethic of younger employees who complained of their workload. Every pile was faced with the gratitude of having a job that paid the bills. After twenty years she could do her job duties without much mental stress and the office had become a place of stability mixed with familiarity. A few years prior, Sharon had come to a better understanding of this when she suffered a heart attack and had to take a leave of absence. During her recovery, the company had treated her like royalty, and once healed, she had returned to find her job available. The extension of appreciation by the company made her loyalty increase.

As she sat at her desk just before lunch, the administrative staff announced that a meeting would be held in ten minutes in a conference room down the hall. Unexpected meetings cropped up all the time throughout her career. She had long ago adjusted to many interruptions in her day. She put her work aside and mentally noted where she had left off so she could pick it up again later. Because it was July 3rd, the office would be closed the following day, so a little more pressure to get the work done was upon her.

She entered the meeting room and discovered that there were no chairs for any of the staff to sit on. The cement wall felt cold against her back as she leaned into it. She flattened herself as much as possible as nearly thirty employees entered and filled the tiny space. No one spoke as the door clicked shut. The administrative staff sat at a long table to address the group.

Sharon only heard the word 'terminated' as she watched the shocked faces surrounding her. Instructions were given to clean out desks and depart. There were no apologies given and no thank yous. The door was opened and each employee was followed and watched to be sure they cleaned up all of their work areas. The paperwork that had seemed so urgent for her to finish now lay there waiting for someone else's hands to pick it up. The tears did not come until Sharon sat in her car in the July heat. To drive home at midday was bothersome to her. Driving away meant not returning ever again. She sat there all day until her normal quitting time to fight the traffic back to her home.

As she walked in the coolness of the evening, all of this went through her mind along with thoughts of suicide. Her work had become her existence. A marriage that had ended in divorce with no children had made it easy to latch onto her co-workers not just as friends but as family. All of that now no longer was going to be a part of her daily life. Finding no comfort in her evening stroll, she decided to turn and make her way back through the Walmart parking lot.

A new emotion now surfaced as she looked up to the sky and said, "God, you better send someone to help me right now, or I am going to go into that store and buy a pack a cigarettes and start smoking again." Anger replaced the sadness.

She wanted God to know that she meant business. Resuming the habit of smoking would begin the process of her death. Following the heart attack, she had been told by more than one physician to never smoke again as the results would be quick and fatal. It had been two years since tobacco had departed from her life, but now in hopelessness, it was knocking on the door to return. She raised her threat up to God and expected no answer. After today's blow of losing her job, she wondered if there was a God to believe in. She began her walk toward the door that would lead to the first pack of cigarettes.

"Hey lady!" a voice yelled. She stopped and turned to look back from where she had come. A silver van was parked nearby and two women got out of the vehicle. Both women approached her.

One extended her hand and said, "I don't normally do this type of thing, but I was driving, saw you walking, and I believe God told me to pull over and pray for you. Do you need prayer?"

Sharon's forehead wrinkled into a frown as she tried to figure out how this was all happening to her. She grabbed the woman's hand and said, "I prayed for God to send someone. You are that someone. You are His way of telling me it will be okay." With that, the tears came again, but from a heart of relief.

God collided my life with Sharon's in the middle of a Walmart parking lot the night before the fourth of July. She grasped my hand as if it were a life preserver. The redness around her eyes showed the hours of sobbing and worry. Her story spilled out in a long stream amid moments when she had to catch her breath to force down the panic. There was nothing extraordinary about her. Driving by, the Holy Spirit had given direction to stop the van and go to her and pray. I had hesitated only to find myself whipping around to catch her before she got away.

After hearing of her plans to start smoking again and her suicidal reasons for it, the Holy Spirit began to speak. As the words flowed from me to her, I saw hope come into her eyes, and the tears dried up. A smile creased her face. She found out that the Lord had other plans for her, and if she walked in His way and not her own, she would find freedom.

"Have you ever worked with children?" I asked.

"Yes, I worked with disabled children as a volunteer before I got the job I was just let go from. I have always wanted to be a nurse. How did you know to ask me about working with children? I was thinking about that as I was out here walking."

"That's God. He is directing your steps."

By the time the conversation was over, she had decided to return to school to become a nurse. As we hugged goodbye, she promised to go home, seek God, and not to smoke. She confessed that she had asked Jesus into her heart many years prior but had gotten out of the habit of talking to God. There was a feeling of peace as I sat behind the wheel of my car. I looked up to see a little girl coming out of Walmart waving an American flag. The night before America was to celebrate its freedom, Sharon had already found her liberty in knowing that there was a God who cared about her.

Do you have that freedom ringing in your spirit this day? Or, are you weighted down with worry and the cares of life? You might not consider yourself a slave, but you are if you are  engaging in trying to figure out your own life and solving your own problems without God's help. In 2 Corinthians 3:16-17 it says:

But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (NLT)

Understanding comes when we allow the Spirit of God to minister to us when we are faced with something we do not know how to solve. Instead of waking up in the middle of the night or fretting over it by day, if we would just let Him take the matter into His own hands we would be able to walk free from it.

This is not something that makes sense to our natural mind. When faced with a troublesome situation, our natural inclination is to handle it and do something about it. Our society thrives off of the "buy one get one free" persuasion. In order to get the free item a consumer is required to buy something, and nearly every time the price of one equals two. Is that really free? We rejoice over our "bargain", at what price?

God does not require anything but you reaching out to Him in humility and asking for His help. He wants to take the burden and lift it from our shoulders as we walk through the circumstances. You may wake up the next day with the same trouble, but you don't have to carry the weight of worry with you all day when you know that your Father in heaven is working on your behalf to make the situation right. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, we find out why God wants us to walk in liberty:

So all of us who have had the veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And, the Lord, who is the Spirit, makes us more and more like Him as we are changed into His glorious image. (NLT)

We are to be a reflection of Him for others to be drawn to. Life isn't going to be perfect, but there is a God who not only offers His help in times of trouble, but gives you His peace as well. That is freedom.

Copyright © by Christine Prueher Share

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