This morning I got "lost in a reverie" much like Anne Shirley would do while performing mundane tasks. As I got ready for work in the quiet of the house, I began to gather the "God Moments" of my life, times when I knew God was at work or that I could look back and point out something God was bringing about in that situation.
This seemed like a worthwhile pastime, and I decided to break up my endless book reviews on the blog with some of my God Moments. Hopefully this breaks up the monotony for you and allows me to practice some of part two of my mission statement. (See Ben Franklin quote to the right)
God Moments Part 1: Divine Appointments
I remember the first time I met Tom.* Our group of volunteers flooded from the back room where we had just prayed over the evening and had been commissioned to go out and love on people. Having one of my bolder moments, I departed from the crowd and walked straight to a table at the front where a single man sat.
He had long hair going down his back, loosely held together with a hair tie. His face was a little scruffy. His hands shook a little when he talked. He didn't look like any of the people I interacted with on a daily basis on my college campus, but he was here and he was alone, so I started to talk to him.
I found out that this was his first time, too, at The Community Feast -- a weekly service our church holds for the community with a mission to provide "food for the body and nourishment for the soul." Tom had moved to our city recently, trying to leave behind a lifestyle of bad choices and get a fresh start.
It hadn't been going so well.
We sang a few worship songs and someone stood up on the stage to preach. A lot of the details remain fuzzy, but what I do remember is my new friend asked for prayer at the end of the service. He said that he used to follow God but he'd drifted away. He wanted to follow him again and leave behind his life of addictions, wanted to worship passionately and genuinely raise his hands in praise like he had seen others do that night.
In other words, he had just been surrounded by the salt of the earth and realized he was desperately thirsty for more of his Savior.
Two of my fellow college group members and I prayed for God to come, to bring freedom and a fresh start in Tom's life. It was a blessing to be a part of that moment and to witness the heartfelt cry for more of God.
The reason this is a God Moment is because it marks a beginning.
I had never been to The Community Feast before, and I didn't return until years later. My small group leader had announced we were going to serve together that week by volunteering at The Feast, and I was just following suit. But the week I went was the week Tom went, and from that moment our lives seemed to intersect over and over again in the tapestry of God's big story.
I was driving down the road and saw Tom standing alongside the street almost directly across from my boyfriend's house. He was waiting for a spot at the Salvation Army house. I rolled down my window, and we exchanged greetings. I encouraged him to keep going to church and went on my way.
A couple months later I was visiting the library for work and ran into Tom yet again. We had a similar encounter, and I went on my way. Occasionally my boyfriend-turned-fiance-turned-husband and I would see him walking down the road and give him a ride or take him to the store to get groceries.
He still struggled for a while with finances and living situations and bad friends popping up in his life. But he knew God was the answer, and he started going to The Feast consistently and then the Sunday services.
Eventually we saw him more at church than we did on the streets. He went from a Feast attendee to a volunteer. He got help with his finances and moved into the garage apartment of a family from the church.
Last summer Tom went on a mission trip for the first time. Recently he shared with us that he's being trained to be a lifegroup leader at church.
Every time I hear about one of these milestones it just fills my heart with joy, to have seen this man at one of his lowest points and to see how God's mercy and grace and love have covered over all the bad and brought life and growth and purpose through it all.
To this day, Tom will thank me for coming up to talk to him and pray for him at that first meeting, but honestly it's been just as much a blessing for me to see God's hand mightily at work in one of His children.
What all would I have missed out on if I had stayed home that night to watch a movie or in my insecurity had hidden in the kitchen instead? (God bless the faithful servants in the kitchen! But that would have been a cop-out for me at that time.)
I'm so thankful that God uses His children to bless one another, whether it's through the act of praying over another or being a living testimony of the answer of that prayer.
So there you have it. The first of many God Moments in my life. Stay tuned for more.
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