In the latter part of the
summer, we had our aged, wooden shingles replaced by colorful, blue metal. As a
result of this project, the second floor of our vintage house was covered with
dirt, probably the remains from the Dirty 30s!! J Anyway, it was my task to literally clean
every room from top to bottom, which included stuffed animals and precious
knick-knacks still standing on shelves from when our kids still occupied the
rooms. Well, I can tell ya; I didn’t relish the job. BUT, at least I could take my time with no
one using the rooms.
Having successfully accomplished one room after many
installments, I continued my efforts to clean our second daughter’s room. Once
again, I didn’t get very far. However,
what did occur was an example of how God appears in ordinary, simple tasks.
That morning before becoming involved in my upstairs
project, I checked facebook. I had received a message from Cindi, one of my
Christian sisters and prayer warrior, requesting prayer as she had planned to
speak to her volleyball girls, whom she coaches, about some “drama” taking
place amongst the team members. I responded that I would be praying and also
messaged a few encouraging words for her specifically. After shutting down my laptop,
I briefly spoke to God asking Him to give Cindi guidance and wisdom in this
situation, and then I forced myself to return to my yucky task of cleaning the
dirt-filled closet.
As I removed a plastic container from the top shelf, I
noticed through the dirt layer on the lid that it had been marked, “Christian
Material for Teens.” My curiosity
immediately engulfed me. Many years ago
when our children were involved in various youth groups as well as in Sunday
school, I taught youth classes and led devotions at some of the group
meetings. Consequently, I had gathered
books, workbooks, and other resource materials to help with my teaching efforts
and then had carefully packed them away when that phase in my life had been
completed. But today, of all days, I rediscovered the container.
When I took off the lid, I was surprised to see how
everything inside was still in good condition. However, the first item that
caught my attention was a book on the Biblical David, a resource I had used in
leading Beth Moore’s Bible study on King David.
I began thumbing through it and noticed a highlighted area referring to
the friendship between David and Jonathan, King Saul’s son and heir to the
throne. Now this was where it got
interesting because the passage was describing how these two men, both powerful
in their own right, were not competing with each other but promoting one
another. Each one was looking out for
the best interest of the other. Their friendship was a true, genuine
commitment.
As I read more, I realized that these words were what
Cindi needed to hear before she spoke to her players. The idea of promoting,
encouraging, and supporting each other as David and Jonathan did could be
applied to the volleyball team. I was
excited and thrilled how God had provided insight in a most unforeseen way, in
the chore of cleaning out a dirty ol’ closet. I contacted Cindi and gave her
the book before her meeting.
Later that evening, Cindi messaged me that the meeting
went well, even better than expected. Along with an inspirational video and
excerpts from the book, she said the girls were quiet and listened without
interruption. She had felt God’s involvement through it all!! What a blessing!!!
“Make a joyful shout to
God, all the earth!
Sing out the honor of His
name;
Make His praise
glorious.
Say to God,
‘How awesome are Your
works!’” Psalm 66: 1-3a
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