Thursday, August 13, 2009

My God-Moment Yesterday

Yesterday was one of those days where God seemed to put everything in place so His word could be shared. Immaculee came by to say thank you for some things I had helped her with recently. Often when she stops by it is just as I'm preparing lunch or dinner for my family and I'm not able to talk long...though she could talk for hours! I admit that a lot of my time with her has felt like wasted time to me. I wasn't sure why God had put this woman in my life...I'm still not sure, but He did give me a God-moment yesterday. We had been chatting for a few minutes about what was going on in our lives right now, all the while keeping an eye on Corban who was trying to play in the dog food. At some point, Caden decided to join us outside so now my attention was stretched between 3 people. Immaculee was telling me about a new family (a mother and three children) who were now renting her spare room. She was quite excited to have housemates again because she gets so lonely living by herself. The mother did not have the money to pay the usual three months rent in advance to secure the rental. Immaculee said she knew what it was like to be poor and felt sorry for her. She decided to help the woman out and let her stay and simply pay the monthly rent when she had money. I told her that she reminded me of a story in the Bible called The Good Samaritain. She had never heard it. About that time, Akla (the rabbit guy) showed up with a friend. The children followed him to the rabbits to play. I trust my children with Akla and knew he would let them play but not let them get hurt. This allowed me to turn my full attention back to Immaculee. I told her the short story and then decided to take it a step further. I went and got a French Bible and my English Bible. (If you don't know, Immaculee speaks French and English very well but is always wanting to improve her English so she can communicate with her daughter in America.) She read Luke 10:25-37 out loud in French and then I read it in English. She loved the story. And I loved the moment. As we were ending our discussion, Akla was leaving and the mosquitoes where coming out forcing us to end for the day. I have no doubt there will be many conversations in the future that will feel like wasted time between Immaculee and myself...but when God blesses me with moments like this one, it feels like it's worth it. As she was leaving, she asked me when I was going to give her a Bible. I told her, "For now, you can come and read mine". I hope she asks the next time she comes for a visit.

3 comments:

Christy Brockman said...

I enjoyed that story. Thank you.

MomandDad said...

Do you have Bibles to give to those who can read?

Sara said...

Good story.

I had the same feelings about listening to the "trivial" ramblings of the young girls at our church until I was told..."If you're there to listen to the small stuff, a day will come when they need to talk about big stuff and they'll know you are there." It helps me know the "wasted" time is really an investment of time into our relationships and the hopes of leading them closer to God himself....which is exactly what your story demonstrates.