Oil on opened wounds...

     That's what the email I received today said, "Your message of grace is like oil on open wounds..."   Honestly, a homeschool family that we know well has had some troubles this spring and I have been meaning to send a card or an email to them for a couple months.  Only I never got around to it.   Why?  I wasn't sure what to say.  I wasn't sure they'd want me to say anything.   And the more time that passes the more awkward I feel for not having said anything when I knew they were hurting. 

   I knew that God had called me.  Most of the time my callings are feelings of "oughtness", an awareness that I can do something to help, and that I should.  Too often though as a homeschool mom of 6 kids I don't make time for those callings, even though they are such small acts of obedience.  A card to a friend that is hurting, a meal for my neighbor who has cancer, a care package for my friend who just lost a baby, a gift for a widow that is spending her first Christmas alone.  These are the little things He asks me to do, the ways He asks me to be His hands and give a physical manifestation of His love.  Sometimes I manage to get around to them, and sometimes I miss the opportunity to be a blessing (and be blessed in return)

   This time God asked me to bless someone with my words of support.  To say I knew what was going on and I was sorry.  I certainly did not expect a reply.  The amazing thing was that their reply was a gift to me, to know that I helped soothe their wounds.  I gave them a gift and they gave me one back.  It reminded me of the verse in Proverbs 25:11 that says, " A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver."  It was that way for me today, and for this other family as well, all because I responded to the feeling of "oughtness" that God had given me.