For the past four or five weeks, we have had someone accept Christ at the morning service and that in itself is a marvelous, wonderful happening. So, this Sunday morning when there weren’t any people who looked like they needed to make a life-altering change, I was almost disappointed.
However, God is a God of surprises and He definitely had one in store for our body of believers. For the past year or so, a young woman from a larger city east of our small town has been attending on a mostly-regular basis. Someone from the church always has to get her and bring her back as she has no vehicle or even a driver’s license. When she comes, many times she spends the whole weekend sleeping on my couch. This is not a problem for the most part as she is a very helpful person.
Sunday morning the offering plate passed her and after it did I saw her lift up her wallet and show the man sitting next to her that it was totally empty. I knew that she was definitely broke as she had told us that morning that she had no money for food though her financial aid was supposed to be settled by the 13th of July. This money would enable her to live for the remainder of summer classes. So, when she emptied her wallet I was totally surprised because this is totally out of character for her.
God knew what was going to happen though. During prayer time, the young woman asked for prayer that her financial aid would be released soon so she would have money to live. Again, she lifted her wallet and mentioned that she had felt led to put her remaining “widow’s mite” into the offering plate. So, the pastors prayed for her, that her financial situation would soon be eased but neither of them knew just how soon it would be.
Following the service, I saw a woman visitor go up to the pastors and talk with them. Shortly thereafter, they called the young woman over to the three who were talking in front. After the group dispursed for lunch the pastor told me that the visitor had been moved by the woman’s desire to please God and gave her a sum of money. The amount of the change she had placed in the plate was just about 10% of the money given back to her.
The message of that morning was “Response” and dealt with the changes in our lives when we come to know Christ and how we respond to them. What a neat way of showing us how God responded to the visitor’s response to the message. Do you ever become prompted of God to do something? May I challenge you to respond to His leading and see where He takes you. It will be exciting and your life will never be the same.
