How To Save A Life
I have always been known to be a sensitive person since childhood. I never liked sarcasm and never understood rude comedy and mean people. To be honest, I was and still am the person who could feel embarrassed on behalf of others and grieve when I know that someone is suffering. I never took bad news well, nor did I like change that shook the emotions of those around me. Instead, I was the child who lived in an imaginary world for years when life was complicated. 911 and the passing of my great-grandmother were just the beginning of my seeing a life that I could not control. So young I was, and yet God chose to speak through my dreams, revealing that life would keep unfolding in ways I was not prepared for. Again, I was so young. I carried not only my emotions, but also high expectations of others, to ensure that everyone was at peace with one another, and that my actions in those areas would be enough.
But what happens when all you do is not enough?
There is a song, “How To Save A Life: by The Fray, that came out around the time that life was depressing for me. My daddy was in and out of the hospital for his heart, family and peers my age were passing away, my parents’ marriage was rocky, and many foundations that once brought security were now falling apart and broken. Yet, this song was number one on the Billboard music charts for weeks and stayed in my heart, evoking ongoing tears that eventually turned into other emotions along the way. Every time I hear that song, I am flooded with emotions about everything that unfolded all at once, as if I could relive the same time, smelling every scent that was around me. What an attachment of vivid memories that the song holds.
Today, I was in the kitchen trying to make myself lunch when the song kept playing in my head. (There is something about me during lunch time, having a moment like this in the exact location, in front of the stove and sink, that I have these moments while my cubs are supposed to be sleeping for a nap.) Anyway, knowing how I react when this song plays and realizing that I was already emotional about a buyer wanting to buy my first car today, I decided to push the song to the back of my mind and try to sing Gospel music. That, unfortunately, did not last long. Before I knew it, I replayed the song on repeat for an hour, cleaning out my car and cooking. Then suddenly, a memory that I had kept pushing away appeared.
So, in a short story, before my daddy passed away, he was going to buy my car from my uncle/ Godfather, but he passed away before he could. Knowing what the plans were, my uncle decided to gift me the car (which I had paid for, as I wanted to earn it), but nonetheless, it was a gift. Now, about four to five years later, my uncle had been calling me, wanting to take a trip to visit me in San Antonio to see my first baby. Still, because I was extremely sick three months postpartum and pregnant with baby number two that no one knew about, I had to miss one of the calls that Friday, which today I wish that I had picked up. That Sunday, he passed away in his sleep. So, after selling the car after weeks of it being posted, I have been missing him and replaying what that phone call could have been, or that weekend, since he wanted to come that weekend, and it made me wonder…
I know that I could not stop what had happened, but spiritually, I wondered what our conversation could have looked like. What would the Holy Spirit say and pray through me over him? I knew that he knew about God, but I questioned myself on why I had never had deep conversations with him about things I wanted to say but had held back for the sake of everyone’s comfort. What if, because I was not obedient to the Spirit’s leading, I had not done specific tasks or said certain things that I knew and heard from the Spirit? All because I couldn’t pause what I was doing or was nervous about making him uncomfortable, what if I had missed my shot? I prayed for years and discussed with my husband how I hoped that, because of my disobedience, God would have sent someone else to do the works and say the things that I was unable to say and do.
From that moment on, I learned not only to make it a habit to return calls promptly, but also never to miss an opportunity to be led by the Spirit and do the work for which I was called.
If you can be honest with yourself, how many times have you had “that feeling” or “heard something” that you deep down knew was from God, yet you ignored it? How many times has God spoken to you about a person by maybe putting the person as a random thought in your mind, or made you take notice of a person around you, giving you an urge to speak to them? Now, answer this: why do you not give in to the natural urges to reach out to the very same people that God has placed on your heart? I get that we’re busy and nervous, but can you imagine sharing the Gospel or praying with someone who truly needs it?
I believe that today, we forget how Jesus saves lives. Only He can bring life to our souls and nourish every part of our lives. We, as people who call ourselves believers, often forget the command Jesus gave us to follow and the teachings and miracles He demonstrated through His life here on earth and in Heaven. He wanted us not to see ourselves so highly over each other that we cannot wash each other’s feet (serve one another) and told us to go amongst nations sharing the good news that we call the Gospel, so that everyone may have a chance to be saved.
To have that same saving that you received when you were called, yet what do you do with your salvation? Live in vain? Take it for granted?
We all want to be saved and call for others to save us when, in fact, our Lord and Savior has already done it.
If you want to know how to save a life, then remember that the body, flesh, and anything of this worldly nature is dead. No works of men and things of this world will truly save loved ones, friends, and peers from afar and near. The only way to live is to receive the bread of life himself, Jesus.
Because of this song, and because of the people that I failed to reach out to, I hold onto a new way of thinking and living. I want every bit of my life to be about spreading God’s love, the Gospel, and being like Jesus. I want to be a used vessel for the Kingdom! I want to be a part of people’s lives, being truly saved. I pray that those who call themselves believers will truly take this message to heart and be a part of the Lord’s work. To really be devoted with true intentions from the heart to love the lost sheep, pray, and spread the Gospel. Only then can you say that your vessel, through the Holy Spirit, can save someone’s life. Not your works, but His Spirit.
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
John 6:32-40
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6
