“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.” ~John 14:18-19
Most of us reading this have never been orphans, but we’ve all face times when we feel like we’re all alone.
Once upon a time, more than a decade ago, when I first started seminary, I found myself without a place to live. I had just moved from Minnesota all the way to Dallas to start at Dallas Seminary. I was single, and all my possessions fit in my little green Malibu. I took a job as a live-in nanny, thinking it would solve both my need for housing and for a job. As soon as I arrived, that job fell through – the family had a shift in their needs and while I still had a place to live, I no longer had a job…and therefore no way to pay for that place to live.
The thought of giving up never crossed my mind. Seriously. It never occurred to me to pack up and head back home. Nor did it occur to me to call my parents for financial help to secure an apartment. God wanted me in Dallas, why in the world would I let something as small as a roof and a job stop me? I can laugh at that now, but in my mid-20’s, I was on a mission. And I felt like an orphan.
God provided. Armed with prayer, I contacted a local church and they connected me with a woman who had an open room and would let me live rent-free until I could find a job. That’s the beauty of the Holy Spirit in us: He sometimes directly provides by moving in His people to meet a need.
Jesus says, “Because I live, you will live also.” He is alive. Elsewhere we’re told that as believers in Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in us. Because of Him, we are alive. And because of Him, we are not orphans. He provides in so many ways, and usually through His people. While we often experience things like peace and stillness through nature, He chose to put His Spirit in people. It’s through people that He chooses to work. And when we feel orphaned in any sense of the word, it’s through His people that He will provide.