God-moments in winter

  Welcome! Hope you enjoy this re-posting from my blog!

God-moments 

Winter is a time when most people would rather not bother going anywhere. You hear so many people complaining about the weather when it’s wet, hot or cold. Sometime ago, I was convicted about my comments on the weather after I received understanding of the following scripture. “... All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:16. David goes on to say in verse 17, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!”


I took a few days leave from work recently and I offered to take my son’s car for maintenance so he didn't have to miss work. I was informed the repair work needed was going to take four hours so I had a choice to either pick up the car later or hang around at the workshop. I chose the latter, and it turned out to be one of those God-moments that only God would have planned for me.

The small waiting room was cold and unattractive. But I felt drawn to observe what was going on in the place. The small business is owned and run by a family (father, sons & daughter) and it’s been operating for a few years now. I was impressed with the manner in which the owner greeted his clients. He had great customer service ethics.

Then I was reminded that we've been praying on the radio and at church for God to prosper business in the communities. With that thought in my mind, I knew God had purposed for me to pray. I asked the owner if I could pray with him for his business. He was so thankful and appreciative. A young woman walked into the room and we introduced ourselves. It turned out the lady had started her own business from home as a translator. She was glad for the offer to pray for her business. I turned around and there were more people now in the room.

I could sense the presence of the Lord was moving in the place. I had completely forgotten how cold it had been in the room. A man came in with his son and we got talking. I shared with him about my church and its outreaches to the local area, through doing acts of kindness (‘servolution’) such as assisting families with lawn mowing, repair work in and outside the homes, giving out bread, and clothing, free pamper for women and other things. Two other women (Maori) had now joined us in the room.

When people respond positively, I believe it is time to take the conversation into another level. I talked to them about our Maori church members leading worship in the Maori language (Te Reo) the previous week. Our Pastor had made it a special occasion to celebrate the end of the Maori Language week with Maori worship. It was powerful worship! I wanted so much to express this because it was one of those significant times of our journey as a multicultural church in a community that is primarily occupied by Maori people.

While all this was happening, my hands were busy folding my leaflets for my women's ministry Group Meeting the coming week. I got the chance to promote this event and distributed my leaflets to everyone there.

My whole time was consumed with praying, sharing and meeting new people. By the time my car was ready, I had spent four hours of just doing what God had purposed for me so many years ago. As I write this, I'm thinking winter is almost gone; I can hear those birds singing as if saying, they are alive and have survived this cold winter. Someone has been looking after them. And soon, very soon, spring will come.

God makes everything beautiful in His time!

Prayer: Dear Lord, may we always find and appreciate
those God-moments you have ordained for us.

In Jesus Name, Amen.