Recently I was packing up to leave early to do a few errands for a veteran when I was asked to take a call. Thinking it would be the normal few minutes I said sure. Well, that’s not how it went down.
This call started off just like any other call. How are you? Have you served? Etc. Turns out he wasn’t a veteran but had worked on a base in another province. Ok, that’s awesome too. As I started getting more in depth as to this person’s needs, turns out he just needed to talk someone.
He, we’ll call him Nico, lives alone and has no one to talk to. He received a pamphlet a couple of months ago from our IVOS Outreach and was told that if he ever needed to talk, just call this number (the office number). So, we chatted. I received a little bit of background as to why he was alone, and his fear of going out and knowing how that would end – at a bar. Yet this fear of going out kept him from any contact and much needed conversations. However, I was also proud of him for realizing the weakness of going out and where he would end up.
We chatted for 40 minutes. During that conversation, Nico commented several times that he was alone and not worth anything with no idea why he was here nor why he even called our number. I reassured him that his worth was more than he knew. His call to the office wasn’t by a random chance. This was a God ordained call with a listening ear on the other end. As Nico went to hang up his closing remark made me stop. “God bless you and thank you for listening.”
This reminded me of Mark 4:23 “If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.” This verse gets used in many ways. Yes, it refers to hearing God’s word. Yes, it refers to hearing God speak into your life. It also means (for me) being that listening ear to someone who is lonely, low, and vulnerable.
This call meant that I stayed way past a full day, and that the errands had to wait. But I walked away knowing that I was able to give hope and compassion to that one person that needed it most – priceless! God ordained that call and provided Nico with the ear he needed and myself with a greater compassion for those who self-isolate and the toll it takes on them.
Allow me to ask you this … who are you listening to today? Are you allowing for those God ordained calls/visits to move you even more? Is your timetable more valuable and important than God’s? May I suggest being that listening ear and allowing God to move through you to provide that hope and reassurance to the other person on the other end of that phone. Those God ordained moments are ones that you will NEVER forget!
~Elizabeth – IVOS Support
