Monday, June 1, 2009

Revealing Gifts!

It started off like most of my Sunday mornings here lately especially with an incredible time of personal worship and studying God's Word before leaving the house. Parker, Travis and I headed to the physical church building full of excitement over what the day had in store! Anticipation was in the air!

Our 18 to 25-yr-old Bible study group meets at our 9:00 a.m. hour. In the hallway outside of the room where we gather, one of our "Greeters" introduced me to a new friend for the group. The next few minutes are sort of a blur as I ditched what I planned on teaching to go for what Spirit directed me to instead. Intense time as I heard, "That was what I need to hear!" by the new friend. Did I mention I taught on recognizing and listening to The Spirit?

As she and I were standing in the main entrance of the physical church building after group time was over, I decided to make a trip to the women's restroom. There is no bath... therefore, not a bathroom. :-) I had taken care of my "everybody potties" (cue the Elmo song please) moment and was heading back to the new friend when one of my most embarrassing moments happen. From what seemed like out of the blue to me, I was tackled from behind by a woman I did not know. Apparently, I was revealing far more of myself than I should have been. And people wonder why I don't wear skirts often. No mystery there now.

I proceeded to walk a bit farther when she tackled me again. Apparently, my first attempt to rectify the issue wasn't enough. And in the corner of my eye, I saw one of the servant men of our church trying really hard to keep his composure. In a funny and yet tender couple of moments, he shared with me how he was preparing to come to my aid before the woman did. He also told me a hilarious story about his granny in an effort to make me not feel as embarrassed.

The new friend and I walked in to what is known as our “Worship Center”. I saw the woman and what I assumed to be her husband walk in ahead of us and sit down. I told the new friend to hang on a moment so that I could thank the woman again for her kindness to an apparent stranger. I knew I did not recognize the woman.

I walked up behind the woman and her husband and leaned in. I told her how much I appreciated her being willing to help me even though she didn’t know me. I told her my name again and asked her last name. She had only introduced herself as Martha before – the 1st time I thanked her. Needless to say, she was no real stranger as she and I had had an in-depth conversation on the phone on Friday. I took the time to tell her that I prayed for her about our conversation upon hanging up the phone. She and her husband both got all teary-eyed and thanked me for my kindness in doing so. She proceeded to share with me a bit of what had transpired since our conversation. And I was thankful yet again.

Was what happened to me in the main entrance of the physical church building one of my most embarrassing moments? Yes, without question. But honestly, it was worth it. For in it was revealing gifts to be treasured. It also reminded of how thankful I am to be able to walk and use the restroom seemingly all by myself again. Even though I know I’m never alone. And it told some grandparents they aren’t either.

As always, dear reader, you've been prayed for! And it was dangerously revealing!

Much love,
Camey