Ms. Jean

Today after Sarah's tooth extraction (which went VERY well by the way) we went to Books-a-Million to get her a smoothie-- sadly Rita's did not open until noon so this was the best second choice. We sat outside sipping smoothies and frappes when an elderly lady stopped by to say "hi" to Sarah.




This lady was very sweet to Sarah and Sarah told her all about her tooth. The lady told her it would be better real soon and the next thing I remember, Sarah took the gauze out of her mouth and told me it was all healed. She then proceeded to drink her smoothie with no complaints. I told her maybe God sent the lady (who was still there with us) to us. At this the lady (Ms. Jean) sat down and we had a very long and rather deep conversation. She asked me (I am really not the person to give wisdom) questions about divorce and remarriage (which was on her heart after her recent divorce and exes remarriage), and my thoughts on finding the right church, and questions about how she should deal with a lady in her church whom she has a hard time liking. I could only beg the Holy Spirit to answer questions, I had no answers. I don’t' think I did well, but only God knows how I filled my role as His agent.



It is interesting though that I have dealt with "church hopping" as you might call it in effort to find our place in the right part of the body; I have had God change my heart towards someone whom I had judgmental and negative feelings towards and the way I explained it was that my now friend and I are very much alike and have the capacity to be very strong leaders together for Christ and Satan knew God's plans and tried to keep us apart. It didn't work-- we found our way to each other and have become close. God was able to make the one person I thought I had nothing in common with (did not even know the person) one of my dearest friends despite Satan’s work in keeping us from getting to know one another. The lady was in tears when I told her this story. I have no experience with divorce, but I know that even in His grief over the dissolving of a marriage, it is not an unforgivable sin.



I invited her to church and told her about our SAGES group for seniors. I hope God was the one who led her to me and that my inviting her to BCCC away from her current church was not the work of Satan. I told her about our "church hopping" and the reason why we left. The first church was under a major attack by Satan and had really fallen far from the Bible and we did not stay to help fight and rebuild this particular body part of Christ. Now both Ernie and I feel guilty about leaving, and we have to continuously remind ourselves that guilt is not from God but Satan. Then we left the next church where I felt safe hiding and staying invisible, after being prodded by God to leave over and over, when twice my daughter was physically hurt and terrified by a leader. I will not give any more info here, but the point is in hind sight this was probably one of the reasons God wanted us out (besides the fact He does not want us to hide in the shadows of a large corporate church building) and I (not Ernie) kept ignoring Him. Now He has blessed us in our choices, availability, and vulnerability and has placed us in the most loving family imaginable. I know it is the right place for us and can't contain myself in wanting others to find their place in the body of Christ by finding THE right body of believers with whom to associate. Sometimes I forget that a church is not about what you get out of it, but what you put into it.



I hope I was able to distribute God's Daily Bread to this hungry woman and that I was not wrong in inviting her to our church. Something draws me to want people I care about to be near me and experience what I do. So I pray for Ms. Jean and her struggles and sadness. I pray that God's will be sought whole heartedly by this lady and not just following the ramblings of this sheep. I hope I did not lead her astray and pray that the words and experiences I shared with this lady 40+ years to my senior did not cause her to trip. Lord be with her as she is about to have surgery, witnessing to her niece, learning to love someone who in first impressions annoys her, dealing with her recent divorce and her feelings of loneliness. Lord you put her in my path for a reason and maybe it is because you desire her at our church to gain friendship and not be alone any more-- so that she will know Your presence through Your children. Maybe you knew she just needed an ear to listen to her and the sweetest snaggletooth smile in this world to brighten her day. You may have even had her come to me to help me for some other reason. It is uplifting to feel love for a stranger. Maybe you knew that Sarah and I just needed a companion while we sipped our drinks, and needed to know that capacity of love for a stranger. Thanks for Ms. Jean and our chat this morning.