Looking at Facebook the other morning, I saw I had a message with an unfamiliar name. I opened it and thought for a moment before I recognized who it was. A friend who had attended our church in Gulfport, Mississippi many years ago! We had lost track of the young mother when she had joined her military husband in Germany.
After a few opening remarks (the message also included an unsent one from 2011) she updated the new message with the words, "Remember me?" What a joy to hear from her! I remember the hollow feeling I had when they had moved. This girl seemed particularly drawn to me as a pastor's wife, and I was happy to encourage her in her Christian walk. She wrote expressing how we were such an important part of her life back then.
Then my friend shared that our granddaughter, Bethany, about 15 at the time, had given her a CD of Christian music. She wrote that she had about worn that CD out, playing it in Germany. The Lord had impressed upon her to stop listening to secular music, and she said that the CD sustained her until she was able to buy Christian CDs herself. The girl we knew now has grown children, and her report was that her husband also prefers Christian music now, and that they were able to bring up their children to do the same!
A few days ago I read a post from another church friend we had known when we both lived in Mississippi. She said she had just bid goodbye to minister friends who had stayed at their house (she called it a B&B). It made her think of a former visitor who had left a lovely note/poem pinned to the pillow in their guest room. She shared the poem, which expressed appreciation and credited her hospitality as being a service to the Lord! Our friend said it made her think how that sometimes we feel we are not doing enough for God and at our age are "put out to pasture," but our everyday kindnesses and simple deeds are indeed acts of service to Him.
We had no idea how much we had influenced the young housewife. When I related her post to my granddaughter on the phone, her voice caught with emotion. She remembered things I had forgotten. She reminded me of the young woman's gratitude and enjoyment the time we all took her and her two small children for a Sunday afternoon and dinner at our daughter's house some forty miles away. Then I remembered having her at my house for a Sunday meal. A memory surfaced of including her and the kiddos on a trip to a children's museum with our daughter and grandkids. It's funny how one forgets those things, but they may remain and make an impression on someone else.
Our granddaughter had no idea how much a simple gift of music meant. Nor had it occurred to my Facebook friend that by providing shelter to the ministry couple she was actually doing the Lord's work. As it turns out, the little things we do may be the big things in the long run!
No comments:
Post a Comment