Anyone ever find God’s sense of humor to actually be funny? I do for sure. Of course, I tend to only laugh during the times that my heart is truly submitted to the will of God. Otherwise, I find myself loathing with a negative attitude and a tongue loaded with bullets of complaints. I often mention how, each month, God puts us through the wringer with experiencing an overload of opportunities to practice the very topic that we are focused on in our upcoming magazine issues. This month, I thought we might have slipped by. We were coming up to the end of the month, and knowing that the topic would be on “acts of service”, I realized that we had not had an unusual amount of opportunities or requests to serve others, outside of what we already do. I remember thinking, “Great! God, thank you for this break because I have so many things on my plate and so many deadlines, that I couldn’t take on other things that require more of me.” I kid you not, that very next morning, two days before the due date of this very magazine issue, I got a phone call from a client who just lost her dad the night before and needed help with getting her son to school. Already having a full schedule that day, I made arrangements for my daughter and went to help her with her son. On the drive back home, as I was thinking of the next four things I had to squeeze into my schedule with a now limited amount of time, I remembered to reach out to a friend to check on her as she was nearing the due date of her daughter’s birth. She shared with me a bit of sad news regarding the state of her marriage and I immediately felt the urge to connect with her on a deeper level. I remembered being in a very similar position just before the birth of my daughter and I was determined to be the person for her that I needed and wish I had at the time that I was struggling as well with my situation. She mentioned that she really wanted to get out to eat lunch but with only three days from delivery she was exhausted and not in a position to drive. I felt the heart tug of the Lord and decided to be obedient and sacrifice my “deadlines” to pour into my friend. Our lunch date was a success and I believe that the Lord stepped in and gave us both directions and instructions on how to move forward according to His word during such a difficult time. Three hours later I found myself back by my computer and finally ready to tackle my extensive to-do list, when I received a call from a parent of my daughter’s friend asking for urgent help with an event that was that evening. I didn’t return from that event until 11pm. needless to say, I never made it back to my computer, but god still worked out my deadlines for me and I was able to accomplish all that I needed to by the required time. as exhausted as I was by the end of the night, I felt more fulfilled than I had in a long time and that feeling was the most rewarding. The act of serving others is not just about sacrificing time and resources for others, it is about being sensitive to the Holy Spirit about how and who to serve and then being submitted to god enough to be obedient to follow his direction and lead. Remember, obedience is better than sacrifice.
