10/17/2014

Help Me

When someone you don’t know personally calls for help, what would you do?

One of my FB friends (let’s call her Precious), whom I have never met, posted this message on her homepage: help me 
 
My gut reaction was to reply, asking what was wrong so I could help in whatever way. But I have far too many friends on FB. (I accept all friend requests when he/she is already a friend of a friend.) Majority of them are actually strangers.

So I decided to leave Precious’ message unanswered, but I did what I could do best under the circumstances: prayed that the Lord be with her and help her.

After that message came a succession of other messages, all with her urgent call for help:

Is there someone out there?

Does anybody care?

If you read this, please text me

I can’t take it anymore

Is this the end?

I need someone . . .


There was a sputtering of replies from among her 22 FB friends, asking what was wrong. But time seemed to be running out, so I dared reply to all of Precious' pleas. My short messages were worded differently, but the gist centered on this verse:  “This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 (NLT)

I shared my dread over Precious’ condition with my faith-sister Doreen, who felt as I felt, and decided to pray for her as well.

Three days went by and there were no more messages on her wall.

On the fourth day, my heart leaped when I read these words:

Thank you, Ma'am Grace.  Okay na po ako. May pinagdaanan kasi akong mabigat na problema. Pero, kaya ko na. (Am okay now. Went through a big problem, but I think I am over it.)

I take no credit whatsoever for Precious’ renewed strength. All I had were words, borrowed from God’s.

But the Lord’s presence and grace embraced her, cradled her, comforted her, and assured her everything would be okay.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

God is really gracious that He let you read Precious' plea for help. Madalas nga po, bina-browse na lang ang news feed sa FB at sa iba pa pong accounts kaya pati yung compassion hindi na naibibigay for others. Mas madalas na busy bilangin ang likes or mainggit naman sa portrayed perfect life through posted photos and whereabouts. But thanks for posting this Ms Yay, this serves a reminder na merong mga taong need ng love, hope and faith and we must give time to care for them. God bless you Maam. I'll also pray for Precious sana wag nya na ulit ma-experience yung depression na ganon.

Grace D. Chong said...

Thank you for your encouraging message, Curly Madz. Thank you, too, for praying for Precious. Hope to see you at the next bloggers' meet.