Ending in the right way

7:17 p.m. Today's project was to attend Ladies' Bible study and lead my group. Since they are enjoying breaking into smaller circles, I made sure to buy a new black printer cartridge so I could make 3 sets of our questions for each leader to ask her women.

The Lord did something out of the ordinary at 8:15 this morning. He impressed on my heart to call one of my ladies who had missed the last two Tuesday mornings.  Steve and his caregiver were out walking the dogs, and even though I had just microwaved my eggs, He repeated his directive, so I went out to my car to get the group roster. She answered right away, and she was fine, but had the same frustration with the group that I'd had two weeks earlier--one or two members, bless their hearts, were talking at length on subjects that were completely off the topic of the Bible study questions. so she just decided to stay home rather than get totally frustrated.

I admitted that I had shared her frustration. The difference is that as the leader, I'd sought the Lord for a way to carry out my responsibility and conduct the group "decently and in order" (I Corinthians 14:40). I told her about our small group format, and she said, "That's great! I'm coming today!"

The morning went along smoothly, with the early shift caregiver ending his shift 1/2 hour before the next one was due to cover the hours of Bible study. 15 minutes passed, I called the agency, and found out that they'd misunderstood me, or I'd goofed up, or both, and the next caregiver was assigned to arrive at 10:00, about an hour and a half late. Well, I called church, told them my situation, and they made arrangements for my group. So odd, how the Lord had made everything right with my absent member, then allowed me to miss group time. The Lord's ways are past finding out, just as written in Job 9:10 and Romans 11:33!

When I finally arrived at church, I had to peer around the sanctuary for my women, and there they were sitting with the groups on either side of our normal location. Dear Helen had three groups to lead, because my friend Malinda, another leader, had gotten sick!  So I joined the group near the gal who had just decided to come back. She grabbed me and gave me a kiss, and said, "I'm so glad you called me this morning!"

The Lord allowed me to pray with and exhort a hurting sister, who cares for her mother with Alzheimer's, to seek pastoral counseling to cope with her unsaved and accusatory siblings. One of my facial appointments was rescheduled, so my afternoon schedule got switched. But all went as God ordained--I spent some time working on my book, and Steve and I went out for our 32nd Valentine's Day dinner!

Amazed and grateful, I love it when God intervenes and rearranges my days HIS way!