...of obedience

…and to purchase a few more items for my hospital stay, MY “STRANGER,” SHE WAS THERE! For “some reason,” her register had no one waiting, but the other two cashiers had an overflow of customers…hmmmm!

Just as I approached the checkout, another customer came as well. While she placed her items on the counter, I told the cashier that I had come back to pray for her. Then, more customers flocked to her register! Of course I began to chicken out. I “heard” satan wickedly laughing at me, saying something about me being too scared to pray now that other people had come around. He was right. Thoughts of what the other customers may think flooded my mind as well as the possibility of offending someone. I considered letting all the customers go ahead of me and then wait to pray for her.

18 November 2005
“Praise the Lord! I am feeling so good & I am not even going to act like I don’t know why. I feel good because I prayed before I even attempted to get out of bed! I laid there & had a talk w/my God before I did anything else. I found a contemporary Christian radio station so I’ve got that flowing thru my room. I also started to fast last night. I asked God to give me a spiritual cleanse. I know that He will cleanse & feed me. I told god that I don’t want the distraction of good & TV to hinder me from learning His lessons. I am confident that my Father will spiritually feed me & that is what I need. He will provide & sustain me. Thank You Father, thank You. I know I’ve just begun this fast, but I see a difference just in the way I started my day! I’m ready to do His work. Lord use me, Lord teach me, Lord let me serve You & others. I got to talk with ‘Ms. Cashier’ again. I prayed for her while she was ringing my stuff up. She was very appreciative. She gave me her phone number & we talked. Her info is on the following page. I feel awesome. I hope I can help her. I am writing her info down for the elders so hopefully they can help her. She is off on Tuesday but I may still be in the hospital. But even if I’m not, I will not be able to be around her. We plan to try & get together tomorrow or Sunday after work.”

Because of our telephonic communication that evening, “Ms. Cashier” told me that she had been facing many troubles at work, her brothers and sisters were against one another, and she longed to be a faithful Christian but she had always been scheduled for work on Sunday and could not attend worship service. She also shared with me that she needed to understand the Christian life and know if God will answer her prayers. We talked until a little after midnight. With God’s word, I did what I could. I presented it to her just as it is, without the book of “Larie” in it or my opinions. What God says is good enough; all I needed to do was aide my “stranger- friend” in knowing that for herself.

“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.’ Matthew 9:35-38 NIV

Disclaimer: After proofreading, I realized that my journal entries might throw some people off because of its grammatical errors. However, please understand that when I pen my words, I do just that. My mind is focused on getting the words out. When I go to present it to others, I do the necessary editing. However, for my journal entries, I have elected to present them to y’all just as they are, (with the exception of not naming anyone outside of our household), in an effort to remain uninhibited. Remember, I am a Christian, not perfect.