
Today I had one of the most beautiful divine appointments with the Lord, and I really felt Him open my eyes in a fresh way to His heart for the elderly.
I was at the mall with my three children, and as I was placing our food on the table, I noticed an elderly man coming over and trying to sit down on one of the chairs at our table. He had a walker and was struggling to sit down, so I went over and helped him into the chair. I could have simply let him have the table and walked away, but as I held the chair to help him sit, I heard his beautiful English accent, and I felt prompted to ask him where he was from.
We began talking and discovered that he was from the West Midlands in England, which is my home area. We then started talking about Sutton Coldfield, where I was born and raised, and it was such a special connection to discover that this man had a connection to the very place I came from. I felt the Lord drawing my heart towards him, and rather than simply helping him into the chair and continuing on with my day, I felt God’s heart prompting me to stay and talk with him.
He began telling me about his life, when he moved to Australia, the things he had done throughout his life, his wife who had passed away, and how he now lives in a retirement village and receives full-time assistance. I sat there listening to his story while my three children were with me, and I really felt the love of God for this man. There was something so precious about simply taking the time to hear his story and letting him know that someone cared enough to listen.
As we were eating, I asked him if there was anything I could do for him or if I could get him some food. He said, “No, but if you could help me take my shopping to the car.” So when we had finished eating, my three children and I walked with him to his car and helped him with his shopping.
As we were walking, I felt such a strong prompting of the Holy Spirit to ask him if we could pray for him and whether he would like to receive Jesus into his heart.
We folded his walker and placed his shopping into his car. Then, as he sat down, I asked him if we could pray for him. He then said, “You know, I am dying. I am deteriorating quickly.” In that moment, I felt so strongly that our meeting had not been an accident. I said to him, “I really believe the Lord has brought you across my path today. I don’t believe this is by chance.”
He told me that he and his wife were raised Catholic and had travelled to the Vatican, but after what they experienced there, it had put them off Catholicism. This gave me an opportunity to share with him that Jesus isn’t about the religious systems of man, the rules and traditions people create, or the failures of people who represent the Church. Jesus is about relationship. It is about knowing Him, opening your heart to Him and allowing Him to become Lord of your life. The failures of people don’t change who Jesus is or how deeply He loves us.
So I asked him if he would like to receive Jesus into his heart, and he said yes! Right there beside his car, I prayed with him as he received Jesus into his heart.
Afterwards, he told me that it was a very humbling moment and that it was a lot for him to absorb. I felt incredibly humbled that the Lord would allow me to be part of such a sacred moment in someone’s life.
But as I walked away from that encounter, I felt like the Lord began to speak something much bigger to my heart.
I started looking around the mall differently. I began noticing just how many elderly people were there—people walking slowly with walkers, elderly men and women sitting by themselves, people whose bodies are becoming weaker, people who have lived through decades of life, lost spouses, raised families, experienced incredible joys and incredible grief, and are now entering the later years of their lives.
And I felt the Lord’s heart for them.
So often our eyes naturally turn towards the children, the babies and the young people. We want to reach the next generation because they have their whole lives ahead of them. We want young people to know Jesus, discover their identity, walk in their calling and fulfil the purpose God has placed upon their lives. And that is beautiful and absolutely important.
But I felt the Lord reminding me today that there is another generation so many have forgotten: the elderly.
The ones who have already lived much of their lives, whose children may have grown up and moved away, who have lost their husbands or wives and may now live alone in retirement villages, and whose bodies may no longer allow them to do the things they once did.
I felt the Lord say to my heart that they are not forgotten by Him.
Psalm 71:9 says, “Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone.”
I believe there is something the Lord wants His people to understand about this generation. Their age does not make them less valuable to God, and their lives are not simply about looking back at what they have already done. They are still people deeply loved by Him, with stories, experiences and hearts that matter to Him.
And perhaps reaching them doesn’t always look like what we traditionally think of as ministry. Sometimes it may simply be noticing “The One” who needs help, taking the time to sit with them, asking about their life, helping them with their shopping or allowing a conversation to go deeper for ministry and healing.
We can be so focused on where we are going and what we need to accomplish that we can miss the person God has placed right in front of us.
When we allow ourselves to be available to be used by God while we go about our day, we can sometimes discover that what looked like an interruption was actually an opportunity God had prepared.
I could have let this man have the table and walked away. Instead, I felt prompted to stay. And what began with helping him sit down became a conversation and an opportunity to introduce him to Jesus.
It reminded me that we should never assume that it is too late for someone to encounter God.
There may be elderly people near you, sitting in shopping centres, retirement homes or at your local cafe today, who have never truly understood that God loves them. There may be widows and widowers who are lonely and grieving. There may be people who have spent their lives searching for truth but have been disappointed by religion or hurt by people.
But God still sees them.
Isaiah 46:4 says, “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you.”
I really felt today that the Lord was opening my eyes to His heart for the widows, widowers and the elderly—reminding me that we cannot only look towards the next generation while forgetting the generation that has gone before us.
There is so much we can learn from them, so much honour we can give them, and perhaps there are many who simply need someone to stop long enough to hear their story and show them the love of Jesus.
Today, I went to the mall with my three children, and what could have simply been an ordinary lunch became a moment I will never forget. The Lord allowed our paths to cross with this beautiful man, and I had the privilege of sitting with him, hearing his story, helping him with his shopping and praying with him as he opened his heart to Jesus.
And I left feeling that the Lord had opened my eyes to something I had not seen in quite the same way before.
The elderly are not forgotten by God.
Maybe we need to be more willing to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit when He puts someone in our path.
Because sometimes a divine appointment doesn’t look like a divine appointment at first.
Sometimes it simply looks like an elderly man trying to sit down at your table. 💛





























