Wow.
Okay I think God is great and all, but there are also these exceptional times that something completely unexpected happens and God just blows me away with his incredible timing, infinite wisdom, and amazing plan. I had one of these moments recently.
Some backround information:
A few months ago, I wrote a post on here about a worship service we had at Midtown that really touched me. I described what I had seen, heard, and experienced that night just to share with you guys what was going on in my life, and even more than that, just to get my thoughts in writing so I could reflect on them. One paragraph of the post described a painting I found after the service that really had an impact on me.
Fast forward to a couple of weekends ago:
About 30 of us are sitting around a house in Isle of Palms telling stories about how we have seen Jesus working in our lives and the lives of people around us. A girl named Kate, who I just met earlier that day, begins to tell us about how she has been bringing the girls on her softball team to some church functions in hopes of showing them what Jesus is all about. Kate tells us about one friend in particular who had been having a really tough time after her father died.
Then Kate turns to me and said she had stumbled upon my blog through reading my friends' blogs. She had read the post about the worship service and realized that the painting I had described was done by the friend she had invited to church. Kate decided to copy and paste the paragraph from my blog and email it to her friend. Later that day, her friend called her crying. She told Kate couldn't fathom that someone who didn't even know her would care about her.
As Kate told the story to me and everyone else, I just sat in disbelief. I had no idea who the artist of the painting was when I wrote the post, nor did I ever expect to find out. I most certainly did not believe that she would ever see what I had written about her or know that anything was written at all. I just wrote the post to give me a better understanding of what God had done that night. Completely selfish reasons. And God took that and used a girl I'd never met before to show Jesus to someone who really needed some reassurance and encouragement. Unbelievable.
I went back and reread the post for the first time tonight. I couldn't remember what I wrote 3 months ago, and I wanted to see exactly what this girl had read about herself. Here it goes:
"I was helping clean up the paint station after the service last night. One of the paintings left behind was a picture of a broken heart. Beside the heart it said something like, “I really want to believe in You, but bad things keep happening to me. Prove Yourself!” At the bottom it said, “Tell my Daddy Hi.” I cannot begin to imagine the hardships people around me are facing. I know it is tough to believe in God when there doesn’t seem to be an end to the heartache in sight. But God is faithful. I hope that Midtown will be a place where this person finds a support system and people who really care about her. Most of all I pray that God reveals Himself to the painter of the broken heart."
God, you are so amazing. Thanks for letting me be a part of your work, even when I'm not even trying. :)