When God Touched Me On My Arm

A few months ago I was standing at the billing counter at a supermarket feeling depressed about the state of my life. I was considering the various financial challenges that I was confronted with. At that moment someone touched me on my arm, and I turned quickly to see a little child with a big, joyful smile on his face. In return I smiled spontaneously at this bright, beaming boy, amazed that this could happen. As I left the shop I turned to him again, and said bye, and then he smiled again happily though a little shyly. As I travelled back home, the thought of the child's spontaneous gesture filled my mind, and from nowhere tears welled and streamed out of my eyes. "O Lord Jesus, that child was You!" I said, utterly overwhelmed. Later I said to my family, "Jesus came to comfort me. I must not worry."

Today, as I began to worry again, a friend sent me a note that her young son sent me a hello. That made me think about God again. Is this from God? When something wonderfully spontaneous as this happens, I immediately think of God. God sends his smiles and hellos through his people. Maybe this hello is from God, saying to me that all will be well.

After the smile of the first child came much trouble in my life. My old computer failed irreparably. Every day I had to walk out of my home to a nearby computer centre, where I connected with the world in any meaningful way I could. (Only those who know my work for God on the Internet may understand the significance of my pain. And even then they may not.) For three months I did this, despite an aching ankle, which slowed me down terribly. Many times I cried out to God, and asked him, "When, O Lord, will you deliver me from this?" But at that time I did not recall the child who brought the smile of God into my life.

Today, in other distressing circumstances, as I sat before my new computer, I recalled the smile of God, when I received this message from a friend, who conveyed the spontaneous greeting of her child. And it made me think of God and how He comforts in little, but significant ways. May I receive this comfort from God and not worry about my life.

Let me end with this strange incident. As I lay in bed during the time when I was living without a computer, a single drop of water fell on my bare back. Startled by it I rose to find out how this drop could have fallen on me. There was no source above me from which this drop could have issued. And then I thought of God again. Did God do this? Did God signal His concern for me at that difficult time in my life? God knew how I prayed. I would lie at night in my balcony looking at the stars in the sky, and imploring God thus in prayer, "I have nothing. I have no family of my own and no professional life. I'm not asking you for a car or a house. I'm asking you for a computer to do your work, to convey your message of love. Why will you not grant me this? How could you be so silent? Do you not care?" And then the drop made sense. Perhaps the Lord was crying with me and for me, comforting me in my time of suffering. Strangely, no drop has fallen on me since that time.

When God connects, He leaves little room for doubt. The smiling child, the boy who sent his hello, and the drop that fell are unique incidents that leave little room for any other interpretation. I am a believer in God. And I choose to see these gestures as divine tokens of loving care. Thank you God for touching me with your love.

- Samuel Godfrey George
  September 2014