Message Balls Blog

The humility lessons on Candy Lane had brought me to a new level of faith. Somehow I knew there was still a ways to go before I’d see the “greater works” that Jesus talked about. How much farther, I wasn’t sure. While continuing through Graceville events that seemed unrelated at the time came together on Drum Street to show me a picture of where I was headed.

I was hoping to finish out my second year as children’s Bible teacher, but with caring for my mom taking so much of my time, I’d decided it would be my last year. Planning and acting out Bible stories for the children each week had been an amazing experience. I had followed God into what was unknown territory for me, and my faith had grown dramatically. My mom learned about God too, from watching me practice my storytelling and by helping me prepare the crafts. As the end of the year grew closer, I began to cherish the moments that were left. Then one morning God assured me that my journey with Him would continue by reminding me that lessons can pop up anywhere.

It happened in the elevator on the way to my classroom. A woman who worked in the office of the church where the Bible study was held had gotten into the elevator with me. As I stood with my cart piled high with all the supplies I needed to teach the children’s lesson for the morning the woman said, “That’s a lot of coffee.” Quickly my mind searched for what she could be referring to, and still, I had no idea. Finally, I said, “What?” She then pointed to the giant clear bag of coffee containers at the very top of my cart. “Oh, that’s not coffee,” I told her, “Those are drums for the children to play, I’d forgotten they were coffee cans.” That’s when I felt the Lord say something to me. What He said was, “That’s total belief, when you don’t remember what you used to be and only see what you are now.” Wow! Immediately I knew it was something significant, but then the elevator doors opened, and I went on to my class. Later, it was written in my journal and filed away in my mind with everything else I’d learned.

Giving up the children’s ministry also meant having to leave the leaders study group. Although I planned to return to the regular group study the following year, I would miss being part of the leader’s group where I’d learned so much being among believers mature in their faith. A surprise was coming for me, though, that would more than makeup for what I  would miss.

I got a call from the teaching director that originally called me to be a Bible study children’s teacher. She had recovered from the life-threatening illness that had kept her from returning to Bible Study and was working on creating a leadership manual for an upcoming class at her church. She asked if I would help her with the graphics for the manual. I was thrilled! Before she had become sick, we had planned to work together to add graphics to her Bible study lectures. I was disappointed, and at times felt cheated out of something, when she wasn’t able to return. And so, I was excited to have another chance to work with her.

We started by meeting for breakfast to discuss her vision for the manual, which became weekly as the manual progressed. Discussions over the manual turned into lengthy personal conversations about God and what He was doing in our lives. Our conversations were so inspiring we didn’t want them to end and would spend two to three hours talking. When the manual was finished, and I was able to attend her class, it was like being back in Bible study with her again, only better. Our breakfast meetings continued monthly and turned into a treasured friendship. Each meeting was a bonus blessing as I listened and learned from her long life as a Christian and Bible teacher. And it’s amazing to me that she says she learns from me too when I share what God has been teaching me. Her special friendship and the encouragement she’s given me for my book and blogs has meant so much more to me than whatever I thought I had missed out on at Bible study. Thank You, Lord!

When I wouldn’t accept any payment for the work I’d done on the manual, she surprised me with a gift card to a local restaurant. I didn’t know how to refuse such a gesture so I politely accepted not knowing how much of a blessing it would soon become. A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving I fainted at the gym and broke my right arm. In some ways, things got harder afterward and in other ways–more interesting. My mother stepped up and started helping me. She tied my shoes, like when I was little. She helped me cut up vegetables for dinner and with other things I had trouble doing with only one arm. When it came time for Thanksgiving, it turned out that the gift card my friend had given me was enough for a delicious “heat and eat” Thanksgiving dinner for our family.

Though I was grateful my arm healed without surgery and with minimal physical therapy, I was left with questions. When I first started to feel faint, I prayed for strength. So, why did I still faint? An answer came while watching a TV sermon on believing God’s word over even your own body. It seemed pretty radical at first, but the more I thought about it, the more fascinated I became with the idea. Was that my answer? Did I follow my body instead of waiting for God’s strength? Was I led by my pride to try and make it to the bathroom when I began to feel nauseous? I hadn’t made it very far when I looked up and saw a crowd of people around me, all very relieved to see me waking up. It took some convincing, but I agreed to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. Tests showed no explanation for fainting other than I shouldn’t have tried to get my work out in before lunch. I learned not to do that again, and my other questions were put away in the back of my mind.

The picture of total belief I’d seen on Drum Street seemed only to show me that I wasn’t there yet. How could I be with so many questions and doubts? The difference was that now stored away in my memory among all the questions, was that picture of perfect faith I had been given. It was that picture that would soon bring to my mind one question that would flush out all of my other questions, and send me on a year-long journey in search of an answer that would put my doubts about God to rest. I’ll tell you about that next time.

To be continued . . . see Tree Circle

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This entry was posted on Friday, November 24th, 2017 at 9:13 am and is filed under The road to the greater life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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