Coffee and Conversations...

For years now, coffee shops have been my favorite hang outs.  In all honesty, when my son was in elementary school, the Lord was healing me from many different hurts from my childhood.  Life was very challenging, to say the least.  I had literally cut myself off from the outside world…with the exception of the barista at the local coffee shop.  On my way to pick up my son from school, I would stop and get a latte everyday. The small talk between the barista and me would sometimes, most times, be the only conversation I would have outside of my family for quite some time.  Over the next 10+ years, the Lord would not only heal me of most of the hurts from my childhood, but He has turned my coffee visits into a coffee shop ministry of sorts.

 

A little more than a year ago, the Lord led me to a person at Starbucks who was / is a daily customer, but who also seemed to be somewhat lonely.  I gave her a simple Christmas gift and invited her to Christmas dinner.  She happily accepted the gift, but turned me down on the invite for dinner, which I fully expected.

 

Over the next several months, I continued to get to know this person and develop a relationship with her.  From time to time, I would invite her to movies or offer her help, but would continue to get turned down.  Being turned down didn’t bother me.  I knew that, one day, things would change.

 

I continued to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit by inviting more people to have coffee with us.  On a typical Thursday at 3 at my local Starbucks, we now have 6 people in our “little” group and sometimes as many as 8. Where the Lord is honored, He draws people unto Himself. See John 12:32

Anyway, the time has seemed to go by quickly and the trust in our friendship has grown immensely.  Because I value her and her privacy, I won’t share details of how I have been led to help her…or how she’s helped me.  The details are not the point.  The relationship is the point. 


God draws us unto Himself, not because He needs us, but because He wants a relationship with us.  We are to imitate Him in our relationships. See Ephesians 5:1 They should be meaningful relationships, not shallow or superficial relationships where we only have something to do with others because of what they can do for us.  Unfortunately, that’s how many relationships are in today’s quickly paced world.  I have never been accused of that type of relationship.  In fact, I have actually been “accused” of putting “too much” into my friendships.  At the time, I couldn’t fully grasp the gravity of what was said to me.  Years later, I can see that there’s nothing wrong with the effort I put into my relationships.  They are meaningful and sincere.


I have come to care deeply for the “Starbucks lady” and I know she cares for me as well.  It’s all about relationships…true, meaningful relationships.  This lady needed someone to reach out to her and God saw me as someone who was able to fit that bill.  I don’t pat myself on the back for this at all.  But rather, I know that any good that I do in my life is because I am led by the Lord to do so.  The only good in me comes from Him and I choose not to pool up praise for myself, but, to pass the praise, glory and honor on to Him.


So, the point of this story is to be led by the Spirit of the true living God.  Allow Him to work through you.  God draws people unto Himself and He can use willing vessels to do just that.  It doesn’t mean that we go around spouting off scripture telling the world to repent or else they’re going to hell, even though there may be a time when we do need to do that.  We need to be trusted by others, not judgmental of others.  We need to invest our precious time in others.  And yes, from time to time, you may need to quote a scripture or two…or three.  It’s about being Jesus to others, not necessarily inviting them to church, although, He may have you do that, as well.  It’s about being the Church…not necessarily being present in a building.


So often, we are told to “bring others to church.” What I have found with many who don’t attend church regularly, is that so many have been hurt by the church that they’re no longer interested in attending.  #truth  They don’t realize that the hurt that was caused isn’t from God.  The hurt is caused by, usually and hopefully, well meaning people who actually didn’t mean to hurt them, but, more than likely never apologized, either.  God doesn’t forget about one single person on this earth.  He loves us all and wants that none of us should perish.  See 2 Peter 3:9


I urge you to look around yourself as you’re out and about in your everyday life.  Ask God to lead you to someone.  Realize that it may take time and effort on your part to develop a friendship.  Be patient as God is so very patient with us.  Pray for salvation for people.  Prayer is important.  It’s much more important than shoving the gospel down someone’s throat or a tract in their hand and walking away…which has happened to me.  I didn’t like it…and…that’s not how God works.  J  That usually does more harm than good.  Sometimes it’s about planting seeds.  Sometimes it’s about watering seeds that someone else has planted.  God knows the time and the place each person, who is willing, will come to Him.  It’s not us who saves, but God, Himself.  Let Him do the hard work.  He’s much more capable than we are.  J      

Ridiculous day at church!!

A few years ago while waiting for the church service to begin, I was having a conversation with my husband.  I wasn’t able to hear a certain announcement and asked him if he heard it.  He said that he couldn’t hear it and that usually folks quiet down when the announcements come on.  All of the sudden the woman in the row in front of us, who apparently was eavesdropping, began speaking belligerently to my husband.  She accused him of being “one of those Christians that give Christians a bad reputation,” and so on and so forth.  My husband and I were speechless.  First of all we weren’t putting anyone down.  We simply didn’t hear what the announcement was.  This woman continued on until she had most everyone’s attention in the area…and they were all staring at us.  Finally she stopped.  I won’t share everything with you that she said…no need.

I was stunned.  My husband got up and left.  Immediately, I began to pray for both my husband and the woman in front of me.  After a few minutes, I found myself tapping on this woman’s shoulder to get her attention.  These words came from my mouth.  I said, “Ma’am, my husband and I were having a conversation between the two of us.  Nothing that my husband said had anything to do with you.”  I said, “My husband is a young Christian and I’ve been waiting for him to attend church with me for nearly 20 years.  Do you know why he wouldn’t attend with me for such a long time?”  She shook her head.  I kindly said, “Because of people like you.”  I sat back in my chair and waited for the service to begin…and for my husband to return and continued to pray for both of them.

Finally he returned and the worship service had begun.  I said, “Holy Spirit, do your work.”  Well, 2 songs or so into the service the lady began to cry.  Then she turned around and just as profusely as she had verbally slapped him only moments ago, she apologized to my husband…again causing a ruckus.

We left that day totally stunned.  But this I know… my husband didn’t deserve what he got from that lady.  But, I prayed for both of them…hoping that she was only having a bad day and hoping that my husband would continue going to church with me.  I put the situation in God’s hands and watched him work this out to peace in front of my eyes.

Just keep in mind that you never know what someone may be going through and harsh words are not the answer.  A soft word turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1  Even if you’re the one on the receiving end of someone else’s bad day.  Pray for them…it will do more good than a harsh word ever will.             

When you find yourself in a sticky situation...

Quite some time ago, I had a conversation with someone who was having a difficult time with family members.  It was an emotional time for my friend.  In this emotional state they began to speak about the situation coming up with the family members in a negative way…claiming that the situation was going to blow up into an argument.  It was obvious that there were already hard feelings there.  I told this person that the situation didn’t need to blow up and it would and could blow up only if they wanted and allowed it to.

You see, we cannot control what other people do, but we can control what we do and how we react to what others do.  If we know that a situation is volatile(or and situation for that fact!), that’s when we should take it to the Lord in prayer.

PRAYER CHANGES THINGS!!

We have different choices that we can make in situations like this.  We can take it into our own hands doing any number of things…and more than likely make a mess of the entire situation, or we can give it to the Lord.  Giving it to the Lord is the best and wisest decision we can make.  And, when we take it to the Lord, of course this fleshly body that we’re in usually wants what it wants when it wants it.  We need to remember that we should always ask for God’s will and not our own.  We may think that we know exactly what needs to be done in a given situation.  But in reality, God is the only One who can see the big picture.

When you find yourself in a sticky situation, remember to take it to the Lord and trust that He will work all things out for the good.  In my friends’ situation, I believe that’s exactly what they did.  I found out later that everything went swimmingly.

Trust God…He has our best interests at heart.    

There's No Need To Feel...

There’s no need to feel insecure or intimidated by someone else’s God given gift.  You have your place within the Body of Christ and they have theirs.  Be secure in who God has created you to be.

Really…it’s a matter of being secure in who you are in Christ.  If you aren’t secure in who you are, you will, no doubt, be insecure, causing you to be intimidated of others…which is totally not needed.

God created each of us with a specific gift in mind.  It’s up to us to get with God, search our hearts and be led by the Spirit to determine what that gifting is and then live it out.  It’s a matter of drawing near to God, knowing who he is and allowing Him to work in us and through us to bring our purpose to fruition.  

The beauty of this is that we will naturally be totally satisfied with what it is that He’s called us to do, simply because that’s how He created us.  It really is that simple.

So, there’s no need to look at “so-and-so” and be jealous because they’re doing something that you wish you could do.  Or…when you’re doing something and someone else comes along who can do your job better and faster than you, there’s no need to be intimidated.  The question is:  Are you doing what God has asked you to do?  If the answer is “yes”…then don’t worry about it…keep doing what you’re doing.  But, if the answer is “no”…then take steps to find your gifting.  The Lord will show you.  All you have to do is ask, trust and believe.

A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.  Proverbs 16:9

There’s absolutely no room in the Kingdom of God for jealously, intimidation or insecurity…that’s not His way.  He’s made a way for each and every one of us.  It’s up to us to tap into what He has already provided.  Remember…if He did it for ________, He’ll do it for you.  And if that’s not His will for you, then He definitely has something better planned.  He’s just that amazing!!