Just a Thought

One thing I  look forward to on Monday morning is hearing how church went in the settlement on Sunday.  I usually ask with some “fear and trembling” if the women I study with were there.  I got the news last Monday that neither Margaret nor Pala were there.  I was so disappointed.  As I thought about their absence I wondered if they realized what they missed.  When I was around their age I really did not consider my attendance at church all that important.  I know now how foolish I was.

Parts of the body must work together.  When I wake up during the night with my toes each trying to go in different directions I know first hand how important that principle is!  But I digress 🙂

Ok – I also need to tell you that Sunday was “one of those days” for me.  I was already feeling burdened down.  Then I went to Sunday school class and was given homework – not just a paper to fill out, but something requiring prayer, thought, reflection.  I became an Israelite in the desert – grumble, grumble . . . I have a BSF lesson, I am reading through the Bible in a year (and of course trying to beat Doug to the finish line), I have to prepare a lesson for Thursday morning, I’m at work all day and now I have something else to do!  As God tends to work things out – the Sunday school lesson was just what I needed to get everything else in perspective.

I realized that I was trying to do things in my own way and in my own strength. I confessed my sin and took a good look at what I had to do.  Simple solution . . . teach on Thursday what I have been studying all week and hear a lecture over on Wednesday mornings at BSF.  And I could always mix in what I am learning at church (we’ve been studying the “why and how” of church) . . . So I decided I would talk to my women at the settlement about just how big God is and why church is so important. 

Thursday morning Margaret told me about how she had gone to a former employer (on Tuesday) and apologized (though she was innocent of what the woman had accused her of doing).  She said she knew the woman had forgiven her because she had given her a glass of water and then money for taxi fare back to the township.  (When she first knocked on her former employer’s door, the woman had threatened to call the police.)  She said she had missed church because she was sick.  Margaret then shared with me that she was so burdened for a childhood friend of hers.  This girl was very pretty and her parents had encouraged her to become a prostitute.  Margaret had heard she was very sick and near the point of death.  Margaret is so fearful that she will die before she talks with Jesus.  Pray that Margaret will be able to call her or that God will send a Christian to talk with her.  This friend lives several hours away.

The morning at Pala’s house was nothing sort of amazing.  A “problem” that Pala had – one that I had wanted to talk to her about the previous week, but had decided to just pray with her about – God made sure it was addressed!  Let’s just say it had to do with that “s” word we like to avoid – (submission).  Pray for Pala that God will use her obedience to Him to draw her husband to Himself.  It was such a hard subject – one I find easier to teach than demonstrate – but one that I can see God already using to get Pala to really walk with Him.  Pray also that God will give her joy as she takes steps of faith and begins to move forward on her journey.

And pray for me that I will use my time wisely and that my goal for studying will be to know Christ and be changed – instead of to check something off a list.