SURPRISED BY GOD AGAIN

The other day I found myself in a conversation with my daughter.  We were being intimate about spiritual realities.  I said to her, “Its my experience that when I am faithful to daily encounter the Lord through scripture and prayer, he has a way of impacting others around me through my life.  I hope you are engaged in those disciplined, daily habits of the heart so that little Jacob (her 8 month old) will grow-up impacted by the quality of your walk with God.”  Then I told her this story . . .

“When you were a little girl in Hawaii, there was a very wonderful young lady at the university who was my secretary.  Her name is Sherry.  Sherry’s parents were Buddhists.  When she was little they sent Sherry and her sister to a Methodist church Sunday school for ‘moral training.’  Sherry was not a Christian, but she was a very good person.  She was a single mom with a young daughter.  She was also an excellent secretary.

In my work at the university, I had a very heavy travel schedule back to Washington and Atlanta (Centers for Disease Control) for funding and out into the Pacific and Asia for the projects that we were contracted to do.  So, I was often out of the office.  It was my habit to have an open Bible on my desk. I read a portion every day I was in the office.  Often I would highlight a verse or passage.  It was just a way of maintaining my personal devotions and walk with the Lord.

One day, when I returned from a trip, Sherry came into my office, sat down in a chair and began to cry.  She was always so upbeat and cheerful.  This was a big departure.  I said, ‘Sherry, what’s wrong?  What’s happened?’  She was obviously distraught and sad.  After a few moments of silence, in tears she said, ‘When you travel I sit at your desk and read the parts of the Bible that you underline.  God has been speaking to me.  I want to become a Christian, but I don’t know how.’  I paused to take that all in and then said, ‘Oh, Sherry.  It’s easy.  I will say a prayer and if the words of my prayer are the desire of your heart then just repeat them as your words.’ 

I prayed a simple prayer of repentance, of petition for Christ to forgive sins, to enter in and take over heart and life, and to be Savior and Lord.  When Sherry finished her prayer, I looked up.  She was beaming with the biggest smile.  She had given her heart and life to the Lord.  We found a Bible believing faith community in her neighborhood so she would have support as a new born follower of Christ.”

Is not God amazing?  I was surprised by God once again.  He asks us to be faithful in our walk with him and then He does the unexpected.  He takes our faithfulness and daily walk and impacts those around us.  

To Sherry I had titles.  I was “Dr. Raymond, Professor Raymond, The Boss,” etc. but in reality God gave me a testimony.  Tony Colson preaches a sermon on “Titles and Testimonies.”  He says “Titles are nice, but more important are testimonies.”   Today, I’d rather be a testimony than have a title.  Thanks be to God who surprises us.  He is able to do so much more than we may imagine when in the small ways we are faithful.