Some Things Can't Be Changed

A woman walked over and sat down beside me, “I don’t know you, but will you pray for me?” she said. She proceeded to tell me her story, of her troubled relationship. I heard her words, “Trying to make it work…Started out great…Darkness and despair,” as we made eye contact. I saw her searching, pleading for answers.
We were in a quiet chapel, a place for solitude and prayer, an easy place to be reminded of God’s love and saving grace. It was easy to gesture to the cross and say, “Focus on Christ for your strength. He will show you the way.”
She continued to say more about the downside of her partner’s personality. I responded by saying “God will be your light. Don’t follow the darkness, but turn to the light and be that light. Your partner will see that light in you.”
She really wanted him to change, to accept Christ and attend her church. I thought of my own struggles in life. We can’t change situations or people, but we can become more like Christ by being Christ centered, and shine God’s light from within. Our examples are sometimes all we can offer when words bounce back off of walls. This is a hard reality when we are so wrapped up in trying to right the world according to our plans and visions. Is that really our job anyway?
We can pray, and we should pray for others, but can we, in all of our humanly power, change them? Our energy can be so much more effective by focusing on Christ.
The woman reached out to embrace me in a bear hug. Her smile beamed as if she had won the lottery. I closed my eyes and started to earnestly pray for this soul. We made a connection that I will remember in my prayers.