Everybody struggles

Last Friday I took my sister back to the airport in Raleigh Durham, three hours from my house. She was visiting from California and we had been going non-stop all week since I got back from my mission trip in Nicaragua 🇳🇮. I really wasn’t looking forward to the travel but we broke it up with some stops along the way. We stopped for Ice Cream at Scoops and enjoyed bowling in Greensboro. We ate lunch and played video games. It was a perfect afternoon.

We got to the airport around 6pm and said our good byes. Little Luna cried and Kendal started counting the days until he would see them again at Thanksgiving.

We got on the interstate and traffic was at a crawl. At one time we just stopped. It was six o’clock on a Friday afternoon. I was prepared for the long drive home. Both kids fell asleep and I sat in silence inching along the interstate reflecting on the whirlwind of the past two weeks.

After thirty minutes I decided I needed a large coffee to make it home. The silence of Luna and Kendal sleeping along with the slow moving traffic was making me sleepy. I couldn’t plan it any better because at the next exit was a Starbucks.

I went through the drive thru and got a venti, extra hot Carmel Macchiato. Coffee in hand I made my way out of the shopping center. Of course it was a complicated process with no left turns or u-turns at lights. I had to cut through a shopping center and down a side street to get back to the interstate. When I reached the corner, before my turn, I saw a man on the corner holding a sign. I grew up in LA and lived in SF, I am used to seeing people on street corners holding signs. This particular sign caught my eye. It simply said,

Everybody struggles.

He was right. Everybody struggles. I have struggled so many times. I have failed at things, made bad choices, hurt people , turned my back, and needed help. I made eye contact with the man and felt an overwhelming tug at my heart. I put my finger up to my lips to signal to him to be quiet and motioned him to the window. I grabbed all the money I had , $3 and some change and handed it to him through the window. I looked at him and said,

You are right. Everybody struggles. I have struggled many times in my life. I am here to tell you I see you. God sees you and I am going to pray for you right now on my drive home. I am going to pray for your struggles.

He looked at me and smiled. Cars were getting inpatient and honking at me to turn. He stepped back and I rolled up my window and turned down the street. I caught a glimpse of him in the rear view mirror , counting the money I gave him.

I pulled on the interstate and it was still at a crawl. I began to cry quietly while the kids slept in the back seat. It was like every feeling I had over the last two weeks in Nicaragua and leading up to the anniversary of my dad’s passing came flowing up to the surface after I saw that man’s sign. Because he was right.

Everybody struggles

Right there, in bumper to bumper traffic I prayed and cried and turned all the struggles over to God. I prayed for friends who had just lost their mother, and good test results for my mom. I prayed for answers to my health issues and for friends who were sick. I prayed over changes at my work and at my kids school. I prayed for my friends battling addiction and for more patience with my kids. I prayed for that man holding the sign because he was right.

Everybody Struggles

I thought about the man holding the sign. Nicaragua had changed me. Before this last trip I would have never been so bold in my interactions with him. I would have given him money but I would have never mentioned God, that He sees him and that I was praying.

That’s the thing about mission trips. If you allow God to work in you and if you allow His will to be done, he will change you. Your heart will break for the things that Break His. You will be bold in sharing your faith and lean on prayer and His word.

I drove home that evening with more peace than I had felt in weeks. His sign , Everybody Struggles, was exactly the reminder I needed. For when I struggle I know that I do not have to rely on myself because my strength comes from Him.