3:22 p.m. Today's project was to cap off a nice morning of Mary Kay sales by walking over to the neighbors' homes with invitations to a "Flawless Face" makeover party my Sales Director is hosting for me at home a couple of Monday nights from now.
As I crossed my street back to the house I saw Steve returning with his caregiver and our two labs. Those two were huffing their way up the block, straining at their leashes, especially the lead dog, Jada. She doesn't seem to realize that if she weren't pulling so hard, she wouldn't be so tired! But I guess being Number One is all that matters to her. Sounds like us humans, doesn't it? So wrapped up in what we want to do, striving so hard, that we don't realize we're hanging ourselves, strangled by our own desires! (And to think that the Lord is just waiting to help us conduct our lives peacefully and successfully, HIS way).
I took some time to ask the young man about his schooling, his family, and shared quite a bit of what Steve and I have been through, giving testimony for the Lord the whole time. As he opened up more and more, I realized that this conversation was a divine appointment. He talked freely about the bad choices he had made prior to beginning his career in the medical field, going from driving an $11,000 car to a $900 one, pretty much losing everything because he came to our lovely state "to party." Almost like the prodigal son in Luke 15, he woke up at a point in time and thought, "This ain't cutting it." He began to look at the friends he had been hanging with, the problems they had caused themselves, the dead-end lives they led, and made a U-turn.
Putting stress on the inner change I had been through, my B.C life and my coming to the Lord at much the same age he was when he saw himself as he really was and took a new path. I told him, "It's not the money that matters--we once were well off, putting 4 kids through college, enjoyed an RV, Hawaii and Alaska vacations--but we have the Lord and we're fine.You could say we've lost everything due to Steve's disability, but really, we haven't lost what's most important. That's the Lord."
The young man said that a friend invited him to a church in Rancho Cucamonga, and he now goes every week. I pray he has committed his life to Christ; it sure sounds like he has. "Only the Lord can make a complete change in a person's life, accepting Him as your Savior," I concluded.
We'll have more chances to talk!I've been posting verses from Psalm 119 on Facebook for a couple of months--it's the longest chapter in the Bible--and the section that has really spoken to me, and others, this week concerns the Lord allowing us to be afflicted before we truly turn ALL of our lives over to Him
according to His word. Hear verses 67-68, 71-77:
Before I was afflicted, I went astray,
But now I keep Your word.
You are good and do good;
Teach me Your statutes.
It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
That I may learn Your statutes.
The law of Your mouth is better to me
Than thousands of coins of gold and silver.
Your hands have made me
and fashioned me;
Give me understanding, that I
may learn Your commandments.
Those who fear You will be glad
when they see me,
Because I have hoped in Your word.
I know, O LORD, that Your
judgments are right,
And that in faithfulness You have
afflicted me.
Let, I pray, Your merciful
kindness be for my comfort,
According to Your word to Your servant.
Let Your tender mercies come to
me, that I may live;
For Your law is my delight.
The Lord does indeed discipline the ones He loves, the ones who belong to Him, but oh, how precious beyond words are the results of His comforting, redeeming, tender love!
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