Jeremiah 29:11-13
For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope. When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart.
As I prepared to go to Deer Park for a presentation and book signing I recognized a hint of unease. This was where I lived for 7 years when Neal and I first got married. It was where I suffered the most and where I found my freedom in Christ. But I knew that no one really knew me there and I had a feeling it wouldn’t be that great of a ‘homecoming’.
The trouble manifested itself when I went to drop off the boys at my in-laws (because Neal is out of town) and my car wouldn’t start. It was parked in their driveway and had not given me any indication early that day that there was a problem. But it was ding dong dead. 🙁
After trying to jump it (to no avail) we put it in neutral and coasted it out onto the street so they could get a car out to take me home. Thankfully, my friend Candice was joining me for the evening so she came and picked me up. This didn’t make me nervous but it told me that there was a reason why I was feeling the unease. Someone was going to show up that made the enemy upset.
When we arrived and went to Mass it was the craziest feeling to sit on the same side that Neal and I would sit when we first went ‘every now and then’…it was where I begged God for me to get pregnant, and later when I begged Him to save my baby and finally where I would attend alone because Neal wasn’t quite where I was and didn’t want to go through the ‘hassle’ of taking the kids. It was a surreal moment for me to be brought back into that world.
Once Mass was over we headed into the meeting place and found it quite empty. After a few minutes a few people began to show up and the man that had set this up with me began to get nervous, I could tell he was feeling bad because there wasn’t a crowd of people. I think that makes me feel worse, when others are anxious because of numbers…I’m fine to talk to one! 😉 I was not in the least bit anxious or upset, I had that internal ‘knowing’ that one of those people that did show up was meant to be there for a reason, if not all of them. Then this beautiful family walked in. It was a mother, father and three gorgeous girls, the youngest looked to be about 4, the middle about 10 and the oldest (later I found out) was 15. They were the youngest in the room. They were a bit out of place and that is when it dawned on me that I could be looking at my reason. 😉
Earlier I kept receiving the Jeremiah 29:11 verse in my mind, knowing I needed to open with this truth. That God knows well the plans He has for each and every one of us and that they are to give us hope. I stood and opened with the verse in prayer and allowed the Holy Spirit to take me wherever I needed to go in the presentation. I did not have a set ‘talk’ prepared, I knew God would have me open up whatever it was that needed to be shared.
Throughout the talk I was drawn to look at the 15 yr old. She cried the entire time I spoke and her parents kept looking at her. In the end, after everyone bought a book (or 2 or 3 THANK YOU!) she came up to me last. I had other women in the group tell me things and though the group wasn’t a ‘stand only’ crowd, by what they shared I could tell God had His plan for every single one of them to be there. But this young woman blew me out of the water. She shared some very intimate things that had happened just this week and I could see why God led me to discuss certain aspects of my life. This night was about her. This precious, gorgeous young woman who sat before me, shaking because she knew she was caught in the devil’s grasp but could feel the Holy Spirit playing tug of war with her soul.
The crazy (well GOD CRAZY) thing is that her family had purchased tickets to go to a comedy club that evening, but she had seen the ad in the bulletin about me coming to speak. She didn’t know what I would talk about and only read the brief description of the book but she knew she needed to come listen. She told her parents and they decided to take the entire family. They were the only family there. She was the only teen present. The other 20 or so people were all over 35. Why this strikes me is that it is obvious that God had His hand clearly on her. I was humbled to even be a part of this great plan to snatch her out of the enemy’s clutches.
I don’t know why I get the honor to do this. I am so grateful. Please join me in praying for this young woman. She is in for a battle but I do know she has the courage through Christ to sustain.
Blessings
Shannon