Ministry

I read a lot of blogs. Some of you may know that :)

One of my favourites is Angie Smith, author of the Bring the Rain blog.
Long story short, when she was pregnant with her fourth daughter Audrey in 2008, her & her husband found out that Audrey was "incompatible with life" (doctor's terms) and was not expected to live. In fact, many doctors advised her to terminate the pregnancy.
As Christians, Angie & her husband knew that God could perform a miracle and so they chose to continue on with the pregnancy.

Audrey was born on April 7th 2008, and lived for 2 hours and 14 minutes. Angie & her husband (Todd Smith from the Christian band Selah) firmly believe that the time they had with Audrey whilst she was alive was miraculous.

Anyway, fast forward and she has now written a book about Audrey and her blog, and she still regularly posts. This is one of her most recent blog posts. I love it.




Ellie (one of her older twin girls) pulled a book off the little Christian book thingy that sits by the checkout (Do you all have those? Pretty cool!). She brought it over to me and asked if she could please buy it. It was called "100 Daily Prayers for Women." She can read, so she knew what the topic was. I knew we had about a bazillion books that were very similar at home so I shook my head and told her no. I asked her to go put it back and then finished up at the register.

A few seconds later, I felt a hand tap me on the shoulder and I turned around expecting to see someone I knew saying hello. I didn't recognize the man but he was in the checkout lane next to me and had seen the interaction I had with Ellie. Very gently, he smiled and said, "Excuse me, ma'am? Would it be okay with you if I bought that book as a gift for your little girl? It would be my honor."

Wow.

I chatted with him for a few minutes, explaining that we were Christians and that we had a kind of extensive library of devotional-type books and he nodded happily.

"It was just really a special moment to see a little girl asking for a book like that. I just thought that, you know, if you couldn't...well, I just thought I would offer..."

I haven't stopped thinking about it because it was such a small gesture, but based on the fact that this was a person who didn't want to miss a ministry opportunity. He didn't force it, he just sensed that it might be a door cracked open a smidge.

I love it.

I want to see those moments more clearly and have a sense of what the Lord is calling me to do.

What if it had been another harried, exhausted woman who didn't know where she was going to turn that night when she got home? It could have been anyone.

I am sure it was me because I needed a reminder.

The Lord works everywhere.

Even in frozen food and chaos.



What if we were more like the man in the checkout queue?


I started back at uni this week, and I cannot tell you how many times I walked past the CBM (Campus Bible Ministries) stand in the main building.

I don't know what I was afraid of.

That people would look at me differently for going up to the girls at the stand?
That people wouldn't talk to me once they knew I was a Christian?


The truth is, I shouldn't care about them. Or rather, I should. But only because I should care about whether or not they know about Jesus.


Anyway, back to me, walking back and forth past the CBM stand.

I must've deliberately walked past it about 3 or 4 times. This is how I know God wanted me to go. Because I just kept coming back to the stand.

That, and because it was hard. Nothing with God is ever easy! Often it is in the most difficult situations when I feel Him prompting me to do something. It's when I hear His voice the clearest.

Do it. Do it. Do it.

I can't. I can't. I can't.

Do it anyway.

Fiiiiiine.


So I went up to the stand. Spoke to the girls. Gave them my email address. Signed up.

And it was great. Most God-directed things usually are, aren't they?


There was no reason for me to be so worried. "God-things" always turn out right.

But in my own self absorption, I very well may have missed other opportunities.

What if we were more open about our faith? What if we were like the checkout queue guy? Tapping people on the shoulder. Helping people. Asking them how they are. Telling them about Jesus.

Like Angie said, the Lord works everywhere.
You never know where he might be calling you next.
It could be anywhere. Our job is to keep an eye (and an ear!) out.