I love all those characters that are not named in the Bible…just anonymous and unknown to us. As with this amazing widow in 1 Kings chapter 17. No name is mentioned. Just a widow in need. I have always appreciated believers who just haven’t needed their names to be up in lights,or on ‘Broadway’ or who get upset when not receiving their proper recognition or due. Just to do for the Lord. Just for Him…alone. I’ve tried real hard, and probably failed many times, not to get caught up in my own ego. I remember when speaking at a Lenten luncheon at a nearby church awhile back, and the bulletin had instead of homily, another word for sermon, it was printed homely…and with my name next to it. ‘And now preaching, the homely John Fischer’! Well, thanks, folks…for nothing! Actually, didn’t bother me at all and I’ve had a chuckle or two over it for years now. As long as the Lord knows who I am, who you are…that’s what really counts. And trust me, He does! Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are His children now and forever! This widow of Zarephath has encountered one of God’s most powerful prophets, Elijah, who as it turns out seems more like some needy person among so many hungry and thirsty and starving people in her city. All her food is almost gone. And the Bible says that God has commanded this woman to provide food and drink for Elijah. When did that happen? The commandment, I mean. Where does it say that she heard directly from the Lord? The Bible doesn’t say. As a matter of fact, we’re clueless at this point. She doesn’t tell the prophet that God has told her she must meet him and that she has to give him food or anything. No, in her quest to survive for yet one more meager meal for herself and her son, one last bite and drink; and now this stranger, this man of Yahweh when Zarephath is a city of their god Baal and the home area of the Queen Jezebel,who hates anyone worshiping Yahweh, she’s supposed to give him what she almost nothing of? Here’s where the story takes on yet deeper meaning for her. Little does she know that through encountering this strange foreigner she will have an opportunity to believe in the One True God, the God of Israel. Do you know what grabs me in this story? The truth behind the truth. We may not have any idea what God wants to do, but He will do it anyway. He is at work when we least can see it or feel it. So, my faith grows knowing that no matter what, God is working in and through me…and you. Don’t worry about it. Go about your life just as it is. Dream the dreams of your heart. Plan as much as you like. But know that the Lord will be meeting you along the way. And He will place you right where He wants you so you can reach someone else, who may not have the foggiest, to reach them for Him. That’s the Holy Spirit interceding with words we cannot even comprehend or Jesus drawing people to Himself through the funniest means and the weirdest people…using fold like me and you! I feel lighter now not worrying about what God will be doing, where or how or when; but knowing He is and will act in His time and in His way. Isn’t that neat? Get ready–surprises await!