The Day I Hugged A Stranger | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Student Life

The Day I Hugged A Stranger

This one is dedicated to CL. Thank you for inspiring me with your uplifting words. I'm happy that God led you my way.

43
The Day I Hugged A Stranger

Let me tell you a quick snip bit about myself: I love to talk. Anyone who knows me can agree that my worst attribute is listening. My mother use to tease me in elementary school for scoring "above average" on everything except for listening during Standardized Testing Week.

Some people say that I talk too loud. Others may agree that I talk way too fast. Many say I just talk too much, in general. The point is: I spend so much time talking about things going on in my life, or worries that I may have, that I don't take the time to hear to what others have to say. Especially what God has to say.

Listening to God has always been so hard for me to do. You not only have to listen very carefully, but also tune almost most everything else out in order to do so. (Two things that I struggle with VERY MUCH.) I never know whether I am suppose to hear an actual voice or what. If I cannot hear something verbally it's almost impossible for me to comprehend it for all its worth.

"You provide the obedience, and I'll provide the power. You obey, and I'll show the way." Exodus 3:11

But being the God that My Father is, he laughed and found just the way to do it. Although it wasn't His Voice that I was physically hearing, I knew it was Him.

Class was getting tiring; I was hungry, exhausted, and honestly--just over the week. By the way guys, it was only 9:00 a.m. on a Tuesday. It had been a rough month for me. I could feel myself drifting away from God. Every time I tried to pick up my Bible, something came up. Tired of it all, I went to the bathroom to pull myself together. I needed a break.

The bathroom is a marvelous place for girls by the way. Not sure what draws us to it, but we always seem to get a lot of thinking done in there.

I sat in there for about five minutes just trying to get my thoughts together. My heart was hurting from a break up, my legs were hurting from the gym, and my head was hurting from sinuses. Need I say more?

I was totally in my comfort zone guys. Two Words: Social Media. Checking Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, GroupMe, E-mail, Text Messages--the list goes on. I was very content with killing time before class ended and I could go home.

I heard another girl come in the bathroom. Being the selfish human that I am (P.S. all of us are) the first thing to come to my mind was "great now I can't play videos with noise because someone else is in here." I continued to fiddle around with my phone until I heard a sniffle. Then came the sobbing.

Anxiety immediately came over me. This had been me so many time, the girl who could barely hold in the tears long enough to make it down the hallway. The girl who went to the bathroom once, sometimes even twice, a day just to beg my mom to come pick me up.

I would love to tell you that right then in that moment I locked my phone and left the stall to hug this girl. I would love to tell you that right then and there, I realized God allowed us to cross paths for a reason. I wish that was the case honestly, but it was not.

I sat there, right in my comfort zone. Discontent with how content I was. I tried to convince myself that she wanted to be left alone and that if I prayed for her it would be enough. I thought of a million ways that it could go wrong if I jumped out of the stall to check on her.

My comfort zone screamed "no" while something else within me whispered "yes."

After a moment or two, it hit me. God was blessing me with an opportunity to have actual contact with Him. He was communicating with me through this stranger. He was trusting me enough to take care of another one of His children.

I walked out of the stall to witness what I already was very familiar with: a girl crying in the mirror. Feeling broken, alone, and miserable. Though my problems weren't nearly at the same magnitude of pain as hers were, I strangely felt like we were in the same boat and fighting the same demons.

Little did I know, I needed her as much as she needed me.

I still was uncertain of what to say, but all that could come to mind was- "I felt like God wanted us to talk." I figured after I said this she would give me the cold shoulder and say she was "fine." Yet, God surprised me.

The most unbelievable thing happened to me in bathroom that Tuesday morning. She opened up to me. She told me about her troubles. She told me about what was eating her up inside, and how she felt like she couldn't hold it in any longer.

All I could sit there and think was "Lord, why did you send me? My life's a bigger mess than hers is. How can I help? You picked the wrong girl." After she finished talking, we sat there for a moment in complete silence. My heart hurt for her heart. My body ached like hers did. I knew how exhausted she felt because I was in the same place. I didn't know what to say to all of this, so I did the one thing that never fails: I hugged her and prayed.

I prayed for God to bless her with strength, for her to have the wisdom to understand God has a plan behind this broken mess she and I were both facing. I thanked Him for the strength He already gave her, and for leading us together at the right time in the right place.

When I was finished we both sat there for a moment still hugging, she looked at me and said "I need to let you go so you can get back to class, but I really don't want to." This was the moment that I broke.

The idea of me almost not leaving that stall still scares me to this day. The idea that I almost didn't build up the courage to speak to her. Those five minutes with her were the reason I was able to push through the rest of that week. We exchanged numbers and agreed to get coffee to talk more. We still keep in touch to this day.

"She holds onto Hope, for God is Forever Faithful." - 1 Corinthians 1:9

Annie Downs is one of my favorite Christian authors. It probably has a little to do with the fact that she refers to herself as "flawed, but funny." For some reason that really resinates with me (probably because I'm a clumsy goofball LOL). Annie also refers to a certain time in her life as her "Broken Crazy."

I believe that I was going through my own "Broken Crazy" before I met my friend in the bathroom. I was spinning out of control, and honestly didn't have anything to get excited about. My spark for my faith had dimmed, and it was set back on fire that day.

I've never been one for listening, and listening to God has always been one of my hardest struggles. It's hard to be best friends with someone if you can't hear them, right? Yet, those moments when I heard him speaking to me and leading me have been so worth it.

Most of the time when He is speaking to us, He is either telling us something we do not want to hear or do--which makes it that much harder.

The key is: You HAVE to listen. Quiet your mind and your thoughts; be still. I'm still learning how to do this myself. It's probably going to be a learning experience my entire life, but that's okay. I just hope this gives you all hope that there is a God and He has magical timing, and He DOES Speak in multiple ways. Just be still and listen.


Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Gilmore Girls
Hypable

In honor of Mother’s Day, I have been thinking of all the things my mom does for my family and me. Although I couldn’t write nearly all of them, here are a few things that moms do for us.

They find that shirt that’s right in front of you, but just you can’t seem to find.

Keep Reading...Show less
Relationships

10 Reasons To Thank Your Best Friend

Take the time to thank that one friend in your life you will never let go of.

3795
Thank You on wooden blocks

1. Thank you for being the one I can always count on to be honest.

A true friend will tell you if the shirt is ugly, or at least ask to borrow it and "accidentally" burn it.

2. Thank you for accepting me for who I am.

A best friend will love you regardless of the stale french fries you left on the floor of your car, or when you had lice in 8th grade and no one wanted to talk to you.

Keep Reading...Show less
sick student
StableDiffusion

Everybody gets sick once in a while, but getting sick while in college is the absolute worst. You're away from home and your mom who can take care of you and all you really want to do is just be in your own bed. You feel like you will have never-ending classwork to catch up on if you miss class, so you end up going sick and then it just takes longer to get better. Being sick in college is really tough and definitely not a fun experience. Here are the 15 stages that everyone ends up going through when they are sick at college.

Keep Reading...Show less
kid
Janko Ferlic
Do as I say, not as I do.

Your eyes widen in horror as you stare at your phone. Beads of sweat begin to saturate your palm as your fingers tremble in fear. The illuminated screen reads, "Missed Call: Mom."

Growing up with strict parents, you learn that a few things go unsaid. Manners are everything. Never talk back. Do as you're told without question. Most importantly, you develop a system and catch on to these quirks that strict parents have so that you can play their game and do what you want.

Keep Reading...Show less
friends
tv.com

"Friends" maybe didn’t have everything right or realistic all the time, but they did have enough episodes to create countless reaction GIFs and enough awesomeness to create, well, the legacy they did. Something else that is timeless, a little rough, but memorable? Living away from the comforts of home. Whether you have an apartment, a dorm, your first house, or some sort of residence that is not the house you grew up in, I’m sure you can relate to most of these!

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments