Listen and Obey -- Everyday

"Happy Tuesday!" The words stretched over the bottom of a beautiful sunrise. A meme that came to me just as I was forcing myself to take a walk. I'd been white-knuckling my entire morning, trying to get through this day alone -- the first. I was somewhere between "ripping the Band Aid off" -- forcing myself to get back to our old normal -- and wanting to crawl into a hole until death. "Happy Tuesday?" I objected. "You have no idea what an unhappy Tuesday this is." But I read on: 

"When storms come your way, just remember you know the Master of the wind. When sickness finds you, remind yourself you know the Great Physician. When your heart gets broken, just say, 'I know the Potter.' It doesn't matter what we face or go through. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He is everything we need. Amen."

Tears began to pool. I texted back, "I guess you heard, or is this just God?" She hadn't heard. She had simply obeyed.

Let me tell you just a little something about the sender. She and I have never laid eyes on one another. We work in two different buildings, in two different states. We talk several times a week, but about things like trailers and drivers. In fact, I don't think either of us knew for sure the other was a follower of Jesus until we found ourselves grieving the loss of a mutual friend last year. (That was a "God thing" as well: sticking two sisters in the Lord in close range of a professed atheist!) But, the sender, knowing nothing of the week that had begun in our home, took the time to hear the Holy Spirit, and followed through. She sent a simple text, adding the words, "Continuing to pray for you always." Oh, my soul! The Holy Spirit had placed a heaviness on her heart, and she reached out, faithfully and gently, to encourage me. She could have prayed for me, or even made a mental note: "Gotta pray for her this week" as we sometimes do. But she didn't settle on either of those things. She acknowledge the prompts of the Holy Spirit. She prayed. And she let me know it. Not for any sort of recognition or that I might text back, "Praying for you, too!" but that I might be encouraged. What a beautiful spirit and a blessing to the Lord's name!

And I don't just want to brag on this wonderful sister, though I think I could go on, I want to challenge you as her act of love challenged me, to listen and obey. Don't dismiss those ideas. Don't make it about you. When you're standing in line at the market, watching the over-burdened mom keep her mind on her list and her eyes on her babies, and a word of encouragement comes to you -- Say it! Don't think, "I feel foolish; I don't know that person." It's about her; it's about being Christ to others; it's about listening and obeying in faith God will do something with that seed. When you've got that stack of cards your friend so lovingly crafted, sitting in a bin, envelopes empty and sentiments unwritten (as I do 😕 'cause I am preaching to myself right now) take the time -- ten minutes, twenty minutes, thirty -- and get them out to people who need to hear God's peace today. Listen. And obey.

And Happy Tuesday to you all!