Okay, I get it

I went home on my lunch break today, feeling the kind of angst that has been more and more common lately with my job. I prayed during the drive, but as soon as I walked into my apartment, the levees broke. Mom called just as I was getting myself composed. She told me her friend had just added my job situation to her prayer list, and she encouraged me (once again!) that I am where I'm supposed to be right now. That there's a reason for everything.

More tears, a turkey sandwich, and an hour later, I was back at work. As I was leaving my apartment, a tiny, barely-there thought popped into mind: if there is even just one small thing that I can do to make a difference or to encourage someone, it is worth my being there.

The guy who delivers our bottled water walked into my office, sans bottled water. "I'm back!" he announced. I couldn't exactly remember why he had been gone, but as I asked, "How was your break?" I remembered. Three months earlier, he had reported a scary doctor's appointment. Tests and more tests, and then surgery. Yet there he stood, with good color in his face and a few more pounds on his frame, proclaiming good news. He prayed from the beginning that God would be glorified, and he handed the whole situation over to Him. The surgery went well. He only used two pain pills. Radiation treatments didn't cause any of the expected side effects. Work would not let him return early, so he took a road trip with his wife and kids. He stood before me, his normal, chatty self, going on about how God works all things to our good, if we will only get out of the way.

"The coolest thing is..." he started to say, then paused as if considering if he should keep talking or go about his work. I nodded, curious. "Well," he started, "you know, this whole experience has just really given me a testimony. I mean, especially with men. Cause, er, well, you know with the part of the body where the cancer was, I really felt like God spoke to me about men. I woke up one morning and just opened my bible, and there were verses to confirm what He was speaking. And I've been able to speak to men's groups at two different churches." I kept nodding, hoping that he was going to say what I hoped to hear. "I think that men really need to step up and be who God wants them to be. I mean, for me, God showed me that I was being a little lazy and not taking the responsibilities I should at home, and my wife was taking up the slack. Now, she's fully capable, you know, but she shouldn't have to do those things. So I talked to the men and encouraged them that we need to be leaders and fulfill our roles in our homes."

YES! YES! YES! my heart screamed. I tried to keep the tears back.

"That is so huge," I said, calling him by name. "Men so need to hear that. You know, I was just at a women's conference last weekend with my mom, and we were talking about our roles as women. How we have forgotten our heart's desires in the midst of working all the time and trying to be enough and trying to be perfect at whatever we do -- being an employee, a housewife. And a part of that is we need the men in our lives to be the men God made them to be, so that we can be the true helper." Ezer kenegdo, I thought, a counterpart who gives life, saves.

"Wow..." he said. "Yeah... wow... that's so true. That's like, yeah, that's like confirmation for me, see? Thanks." His eyes shone with gratitude and clarity.

There wasn't much more we could say after that.

if there is even just one small thing that I can do to make a difference or to encourage someone...