Pam Padgett ... teacher
One afternoon a couple years ago I was planning to go for a ride on my bicycle. While in the garage to get the bicycle, I kept having the thought that I needed to go see if my elderly neighbor's trash can was still at the end of his driveway.
(This neighbor is a widower who lives by himself.) Although it seemed a
little strange to check on the neighbor's trash can, I thought it was
the Holy Spirit bringing this thought so I went to look and noticed that
the trash can was still in the driveway. This was unexpected because
this neighbor usually put his trash can in his garage as soon as it was
emptied by the trash company in the morning. I walked over to his
driveway and noticed also that his newspapers hadn't been picked up
yet. This, again, was very unusual.
This neighbor is hard of hearing and doesn't hear the doorbell, but is able to hear
his telephone, so I went back to my house thinking I might call him to check on him.
However, I started wondering if I might be over-reacting, that maybe
he'd had appointments that day and just hadn't gotten home yet. I
thought it might be best to wait a couple hours and then call. But a
thought which I believed was from the Holy Spirit said that it wouldn't do any good to wait.
I believed I was being led by the Holy Spirit to take action right then. I try to call him on the telephone, but there was no answer. I had a key to this neighbor's house,
so took it and let myself into his house. I called out loudly in case
he was home to let him know I was coming into the house. A very weak
voice responded "Help me".
I found the neighbor lying on the kitchen floor. He had fallen more
than 20 hours earlier, was unable to get up and unable to reach the
telephone. After finding him and calling for an ambulance, he was taken
to the hospital with several injuries.
This neighbor had no
way to communicate with people, but God knew what had happened. And God
was able to get my attention and lead me in finding this neighbor. All things are possible with God.