I was challenged recently by a friend to take “Ten Minutes a Day” to focus on ways to serve others. I often think being a mom qualifies me for all the serving that a person could ever need, but I know this should include others as well. I asked the Lord not to let me miss those opportunities He brings my way. He is ever faithful, even when I am spiritually deaf or blind and have way too many “missed opportunities.”
We are immensely enjoying the house God literally “dropped in our laps” a few months ago. We have a nice, large, flat yard that backs up to the river. On a recent Thursday, I was outside doing something when I noticed the sound of the water rushing as it flowed down the stream. The Lord brought Psalm 1 to my mind: Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly….he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water.
Thursday is the day my good friend Leon comes over to serve our family in so many ways. I wanted to enjoy the moment with my friend, so I invited her outside and shared this verse with her. We chatted about the verse briefly, and then we sat down under a tree together to just listen to the water. Soon she shared her story with me.
Years ago, she had served another couple in the place we now call home. The muli (moo-lee) tangerine tree under which we were sitting, she had planted. The streams of water to which we were now listening, she had once used for bathing and washing clothes. The surrounding area that is now water was once a flat ground where she had had a garden. It was also the place where numerous mumus (moo-moos)—times of cooking food on hot stones in the ground—took place, along with many celebrations. Many happy memories of the past flowed from her lips.
However, the most memorable of those for her happened next door. Years ago, two translators had lived there. She was blessed to serve them as a single lady, and it was during her time with them that she was challenged about her need for the Savior. She recalled that she had not known anything about Jesus, but she watched their lives and wanted what they had. They introduced her to Him and taught her to pray. She pointed: “That house is where my new life began.”
Together we marveled at the grace of God in her life, and how He had now brought her into our lives, in another season of her life, back to a place where her spiritual journey began. She is a great blessing to our lives and a mighty prayer warrior as well—earlier that morning, when I had shared a burden on my heart, she stopped what she was doing and immediately prayed with me. The translators she told about are indirectly connected to my home church in Dallas. It is indeed a small world in Christ!
If a man’s steps are ordered by the Lord, how can he know his own way?
I was blessed beyond measure by stopping my busyness for just TEN MINUTES A DAY!
© 2012 Women of the Harvest.