Everyday you pass them on the street. You have conversations with them at the office or at the grocery store. You interact with them at the restaurant or the gym. You rub shoulders with them at church. You have contact with them when they repair your vehicle. These people are around you no matter where you go each day. Even though these people are all very different, they all have one thing in common. There is one thing that connects them all no matter what their occupation or income level is. No matter their education, these people all share one similarity. These people, these precious people that you are around everyday are none other than people that are hurting and wounded.

You never know even in a short interaction with others just what people are dealing with. You have no idea what they carry with them everywhere they go. These people are literally dying for someone to love them. They so deeply desire for someone to encourage them and speak life giving words to them. They long for someone to look past their baggage and accept them right where they are without having to pretend to be someone they aren’t. They spend all of their days putting on a mask to hide from all of the emotional and mental pain that they deal with on a moment by moment basis. If only someone really cared about what concerns them, then they wouldn’t have to hide and act as if everything was fine. They cry themselves to sleep at night because they feel so alone and as if no one understands anything that they are going through. They feel isolated, abandoned, and forgotten. They feel stuck and unable to move forward.

We all struggle with our own personal battles. Things aren’t perfect for anyone. Life has a way of bringing us all challenges, but that’s no excuse for not sharing the joy that we possess on the inside. Most of the world lives with no hope, but when God births hope in our spirit, then we just can’t keep from sharing it. As God pours into us, then we are compelled to pour His love into other people’s lives. His love is a fountain flowing from us to everyone around us. We just can’t hold it back. It’s too good to keep to ourselves.

So how do we allow God to use us with all of the hurting people that He puts in our path each day? It’s really quite simple. It doesn’t take much thought or planning, but it is something that we must be strategic about. We make a decision each and every morning to surrender to God’s plan for that day. That day is going to include people that are hurting. You can guarantee that someone is going to fit that category no matter where your day takes you.

Plan to be an encourager. Plan to be a person that speaks words of life and not death. Plan to be patient and kind with people. Plan to show God’s love to others. Plan to be a giver. Plan to be a listener. Plan to be a person of joy. Plan to have a good attitude. Plan to treat others with respect and the way that you want to be treated. Plan to be a person of peace with those that are a little short with you. Plan to be a conduit of all of the beautiful workings in your spirit to those around you whether you think they deserve it or not.

You are the only Bible that some people will ever read. May you be Jesus in the flesh with the people that are struggling in life. May your prayer and heart’s desire be to shine the light of God’s love onto every hurting person that He puts you in contact with. When you ask Him to put you in the right place at the right time, then be expecting Him to set up spiritual appointments with the person that needs what you have. You are on assignment with God with those seeking and searching for something that’s missing in their life.

Be watching. Be paying attention. God is at work all around you and wants you to join Him in it. You are a joy giver. You are a hope giver. You are a love of God giver. Share His beauty with wounded people. They want it and need it. For remember that you once were that hurt and wounded person just like them. Never forget it!