Praise and Glory to God! I am hopeful your weekend is Holy Spirit filled! Oh, our Lord is so good to us. If you have time off work this weekend, just praise Him for your rest and time away to refresh with your family.
I have recently taken a job change. This job change includes flexibility in hours. I currently am trying out a four day work week, working 10 hour days. Obviously, the best day of the week is Friday, so that is my day off. It has worked out well, but it is somewhat trying by Wednesday.
I have enjoyed these Fridays to the max! I try to get most errands run on this day. What is interesting, is that these happen to be days that I really have alot of Holy Spirit activity.
Today I needed to take my son to school, and then needed to get to a laundromat, as my cat keeps throwing up on my queen size comforter for my bed. Sorry, but yuck.
I found out to dry clean a comforter is nearly the cost of a new one, so I got a good suggestion to take it the the laundromat for $4.00. (Thank you sister Pam for the hint).
I had packed in my big purse a banana and two books. I have not been to a laundromat since August 1998. I did not know what to expect, and hate to sit and wait. I used to be more of a people watcher, but I avoid that more and more now, as I found out I was really just using people as eye candy to feast on, and most likely this was not a healthy hobby.
I get there and there are no over-sized washers open. I just stand there and stare at the Maytag's. As though my time is more valuable than everyone else in there.
One lady came up to me and said "You can use mine, as my husband can't pick me up until 9:30 anyhow. Go ahead and use it, and I'll still have time for my last load".
I thanked her over and over. I also had to ask her for help on what to do to get these to work. She was helpful. I tell her I am there because my cat keeps vomiting on my comforter.
I sat down after I got it running and tried to read. But, the Holy Spirit was advising me to people watch, but this time in a different way.
I noticed women, with their mothers and sisters and children, making this an event. There are not many cars in the parking lot, so as the saint that gave me her washer, they don't have a car there. Maybe they don't own a car at all.
They don't have the privilege of having a washer and dryer at home either. They don't have a span of 13 years in between their visits to the laundromat. They don't have the only reason to go to another place across town to wash items is because their one item is too large, as is mine, my comforter.
I see a community of women, being cheerful, working hard for their families, washing their clothes. They don't get the privacy I do, washing my underwear and private items in my basement of my house. They get to wash their clothes in public.
I am not saying anything here other than I am so aware of the world now that I am born again. I take little for granted.
I saw a lady that appeared to be going through chemo therapy at the laundromat. There was a Hispanic family at the laundromat. There were elderly people there.
I decided this was a divine opportunity to do something nice. I happened to have one of my notes on me that I had typed up, that states essentially that "I am gifting you with this item because the Holy Spirit filled me recently, and I am excited to share that". I found a crisp new $5.00 bill.
I waited until my time to leave. I left it on the bench where I sat, with the note carefully wrapped around the money. And I drove away and cried.
Why did I cry? Well, I cry alot since my conversion. I had cried alot this entire morning. I asked God to use me today and this weekend. I think also part of my reason for crying was because I have so much, and it is way too easy for me to judge those who do not have as much as I do. I cried because I now know that my Father has me in His hands. Even after all of my sin. I cry for anyone else who does not feel this deep love feeling, this guilt-gone feeling. It really is as if you don't know what you are missing prior to turning your life to Christ, and you think that the confusion and weight that you feel is normal. That those voices are normal. That your uncontrolled urges are normal.
I have to say, the more time I spend intimately with God, the more I cry. The more layers He peels. The sharper He makes my vision. He lifts the veil a little more. And most importantly, the more I feel I need to give of my time, talents and finances to others.
Another way to put this is that sometimes I feel like a foreigner, living in a new country. This is since my re-creation. I look at things entirely different, especially if I am keen to the Spirit in me. I intentionally try to talk to God many times a day. If we have an ongoing type relationship that day, which works out alot on the weekends, I seem to have more experiences that move my faith even greater, and hopefully they are moving someone else, as well.
Maybe someday I will get an even bigger opportunity to get "caught", and then get to share God's beautiful love story about them. But for now, I am a little shy about this. I am compelled to do these things, to make someone smile. But, it is not about me. I always put a note about our great Creator on it, and that the gift is from Him!
May you find openings in your day to look for these openings. Even if it is at your desk at work, and your coworker is really hungry to hear about your faith in God. (Many, many people are hungry, believe me). Look around. And cry. Those are the best tears on this side of heaven. Praise and Glory to God, who saved me from the pit. Who was there all along, but waited patiently for me. Who has answered numerous prayers for me in 2011. Who has shown me HE IS RIGHT HERE, by His signs and wonders of the "coincidences" that have blown me away, especially since April 14, 2011. Blessings to you, my sisters and brothers in Christ.
Recommended reading: You Were Born For This, by Bruce Wilkinson.
Revelation 2:19 (To the church of Thyatira) I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
Acts 26: 20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.
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