Troy's Hidden Woman of Prayer

Note: We have a backlog of stories from Oaks of Righteousness that we wanted to share with you. This story is from a couple of months ago.

I feel like my life is becoming a collection of "crazy God stories." This is certainly one of them.

This story falls into the category of a "God gives us what we need" story. When we first opened Oaks Cafe, we collected a lot of these. For instance, we wanted a foosball table. We prayed, "God, if this isn't too dumb of a request, could you give us a foosball table for the Cafe so the kids can play?" Within two days, we had two offers of foosball tables from two sources who knew nothing about what we'd prayed.

All that to say, God keeps giving us what we need. So, getting on to the main story....

Hannah and I decided it was time for me to implement the missionary strategy of walking around our neighborhood, talking to people, praying for them, and basically acting like their pastor until they accept me as such. (It works better than you might think). Troy has some rough parts, and we discussed who might be a good person to walk with me in those areas. We both thought of a warm, no-nonsense friend of ours who's done street ministry for years and decided to ask her when we had a chance.

The next day -- as I was getting ready to make my rounds -- this friend spontaneously showed up to help out. Figuring God was giving us who we needed for the day, she and I set out for the rough neighborhood.

As we journeyed along, we encountered a middle-aged woman with a sweet face who was picking up cans to trade in for cash. We walked over to talk to her and realized she only spoke French (not a language one normally expects to encounter in Troy).

I don't speak French. But my friend, it turns out, used French years ago and was able to talk a little with  this woman. A smile spread across our new friend's face as she heard her native language. She said her name is Rosalee, she is from the Ivory Coast, and she is Catholic. As she'd been walking and picking up cans, she was "Praying to God."

All this to say two things:

First is that my God is the father of orphans, the defender of widows, and the lover of immigrants and outcasts. In his incredible love for Rosalee, my Lord set up a dizzying set of circumstances so that she'd encounter two sisters in Christ in a foreign -- and probably often unkind -- land. And for just a few moments, she'd hear words of love and kinship in her own tongue.

Second is that my God allowed me the humble honor of meeting one of Troy's hidden women of prayer, who speaks to the lover of her soul and mine -- hidden in plain sight.

Lord Jesus, you said, "For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light." Lord, how beautiful is just a glimpse of what you have hidden in this world! Give us hunger for the wonders to be revealed, along with the trust to wait on you. Amen.