The other day I was sitting with a student on a bench during recess. He was struggling with some tough issues and needed a listening ear. I felt the Lord’s presence as we talked, and right there in that moment I knew that I was exactly where the Lord wanted me to be.

Some are called to preach from pulpits to hundreds of people, and they are in the center of God’s will. They are living out God’s calling on their lives. But we aren’t all called to preach to the masses. Sometimes we are called to the “one!”

I was talking to my husband the other day and he asked me, “Who did Jesus really invest in when He was here on earth?”

Sure, at times He spoke to the crowds. But Jesus really did life and invested in 12 men. Jesus also ministered to individuals as he passed from place to place. Most of those individuals he interacted with were messed up. It’s like He intentionally went looking for the most broken, hurt, and lost people. He went after the “one!”

The “one” matters to God.

The lost sheep…

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, `Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’” Luke 15:5-6

The lost coin…

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, `Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’” Luke 15:9

Then there’s the Samaritan woman in John 4.

Jesus intentionally went to a place where Jews normally didn’t go. Samaria. He interacted with a woman that Jews normally didn’t interact with. A Samaritan. And He knew what a hot mess she was before He ever spoke to her. She had been married 5 times and was currently living with a dude who wasn’t her husband.

And He offered her living water. He offered her Himself.

That passage was so powerful for me because that’s exactly what He wants us to do through us in the lives of others! He positions us in certain places around certain people for divine purposes. Around the “one!”

Especially the messy. Especially the broken.

 After all, aren’t we all broken? How quickly we forget that we once were the “one!”

He wants to love THEM through US! 

A lot of times we find ourselves in difficult places with messed up people. But like Jesus at the well in Samaria, we just might be exactly where God has placed us.

So often I miss it. I miss those divine moments. I don’t like messy. I avoid it. Messy is complicated. Hard. Exhausting.  I miss my own encounters at the well because I choose go in a different direction.

So today, if you feel like you are passing through Samaria, remember that the Lord has a  purpose for you being right where you are. He wants to use you in the lives of the people He brings your way–at work, the store, church, school, home, a well,

or maybe even a recess bench.

Walk in obedience to where He calls you. Don’t miss those encounters at the well. Don’t miss those moments with the “one.”

Ravi Zacharias says, “if you could see the Sovereign hand of God in everything that takes place, you would know that you are in your calling and not in a profession. Even though He does not call you into the ministry, it’s no less a sacred call. The sacredness of the call is not where He places you, but that He places you there.”

The “one” matters to God.