(The lady in black on the left front was a guest singer from N.Y.C.
She was a great singer and the choir did a great job as backup.
I wish I could post a picture of the children singing their song.
They had sticks with streamers on them and moved them as the
director moved hers. It was so orderly and cute.)
As you know, Alan and I love our church.
We look forward to going and serving as greeters
each week. Every Sunday before I leave the house,
I ask the Lord to fill me with His Spirit so that
the people I greet will feel especially blessed or
that the Spirit of the Living God will minister to
them through me. Today was an interesting day.
All of the greeters who help us were in their places so I was
busy giving out letters with information to the designated
ones. One girl caught my eye so I went over to her.
I asked her how she was doing.
She began to cry.
She asked if she may talk to me.
We went over to the sofas and sat down while she
poured out her heart to me.
I encouraged her by telling her what God says in his Word.
I told her what I knew about " riding out a storm."
We must have talked for a half hour.
She seemed encouraged and went to the auditorium.
As I stood up from the sofa and began moving towards
the Welcome Center, I was confronted by an angry
person. She spoke harshly to me as she reminded
me that she had specifically phoned me to tell me
that they would not be here in a certain month
and that I had not removed their names from
the greeter list for that time.
Before I could explain to her that when data is in
the computer, and it is a cyclical schedule, we do not
change it, but we get substitutes, and that Alan and I are
always there to provide backup if we feel it is needed.,
her husband stormed up and said,
"WE CALLED YOU ABOUT THIS!"
I said, "Well, don't worry about it.
We will take care of it."
He said,
"I WON'T WORRY ABOUT IT!"
They walked off.
The most unusual thing happened to me!
I felt so good!
I stood there and thought,
"You know, Cheryl, in the past when people
yelled at you, you would sink into deep depression
whether you were guilty or not.
This strong loving feeling you are experiencing is
NOT YOU. It has to be the LORD!"
"The angel of the LORD encamps around
all those who fear the LORD!"
(somewhere in the Psalms)
It was time for worship service to begin so I
entered the sanctuary looking for the widow
I try to sit beside each Sunday because she sits alone.
She is a very beautiful, gracious lady and I mean that sincerely.
Only just this morning as I talked a little more with her,
I realized that she has a problem with her speech.
Her nerves cause her to leave out some syllables
so I have to listen intently to her. She has such
a sweet sweet spirit.
After the service is over, I always tell her to have
a wonderful week. She drinks in my kindness with
the sweetest smile and a kind return.
I wonder if it is really Jesus sitting there?
I really do not know who she is.
In Lancaster County, you do not push yourself
on people too fast.
It was a wonderful service today.
There is so much to say about that, but
it would take a whole different blog.
After the service
Alan and I hung out in the lobby chit chatting
with whomever. My prayer partner came
up to me and handed me a note.
It had the names of gluten free books on it.
She has only recently been diagnosed with
Celiac's Disease.
The Lord knew all of this last year when He
put us together that we would have that in common.
She is so different from me.
She is from N. J. and I am from Ohio.
Our cultures couldn't be more different.
Jesus is our common bond and now we
are sisters in Christ and love each other.
She returned my gift bag of goodies
saying, "I couldn't eat a thing!
We laughed together.
Because I am gluten intolerant too,
it didn't offend me. I understood perfectly.
I just took her a bag of gluten free goodies!
She called me when I got home to thank me.
I asked our friends to come for dinner,
He said, "No, we have a better offer!"
I said, "Okay, be that way!"
We laughed!
They did come in the afternoon because
he wanted to talk business with Alan.
I popped a peach cobbler in the oven,
and they had brought ice cream.
This day was an awesome day because the
Lord was in it. Wonder if all Christians who
went to church would ask the Holy Spirit
to fill them. What do you think would happen?
(Be filled with the spirit and don't cry on Sundays
or any other day, for that matter.)
