Wednesday morning of last week, the last day of our ‘vacation’ in Colorado, Neal received the call that his Uncle Robert passed away. Later that evening Neal received another call that the owner of his company passed away. Need less to say it was a day of mourning for Neal and not a great push off into the next leg of our trip to Tahoe. Thankfully Thursday morning came without another dreaded phone call and we made it to Tahoe without a hitch.
Little did I know that as God had filled me up with His presence in the steady trickling of the stream, the kiss of a thousand breezes and air so clear it literally took my breath away that He was going to use me ‘all filled up’ to pour out His love to others. In Tahoe we were attending a convention for the field in which Neal works in and Neal’s company was sponsoring a few of the events throughout the weekend which is why our presence was needed especially since the owner had recently passed away. This was my first time to be with Neal in his environment and keeping up with the conversation with his customers and their wives.
On a boat in the middle of Lake Tahoe with a few of the wives God put me to work. “What do you do?” One asked. Being that this was Neal’s event and not my usual conference, retreat or church setting I decided to make the conversation less awkward and responded, “I’m an inspirational speaker.” I didn’t want to lie I just didn’t want to make anyone else feel awkward. BUT there really is no way around it. “Oh really,” they say. “What exactly do you speak about?” Please realize that I do not have any qualms telling people what I do, rather what I’m called to do, however I also realize that I’m not in my usual setting where people either know me to be strong in my faith (Ie: outspoken) and this weekend is about Neal and his company, not me. 😉
“I primarily speak about faith and I’m an advocate for abuse survivors,” I said. With that out there the conversation got interesting. I won’t say much else as to keep the privacy of our conversation but I will divulge that it is the greatest gift to me from God when He SHOWS UP when I least expect it, and not for me but for others…and I’m humbly the vessel.
The weekend was fast and packed with great food, great company and more of God’s beautiful scenery. I went with a few couples hiking to a waterfall while Neal golfed with some customers and surprised myself when I shimmied my way down to the near tip off where the water cascades over the cliff.
Even though we each had our own bathroom in the hotel ( a far cry from the ‘yellow mellow’ rule) Neal and I were ready to get home. Back in Texas we headed for ‘real’ Mexican food and went to bed only to wake up the next morning to attend the funeral of the owner of his company. But once again God is never selfish on lending a word of encouragement and direction. Just before we walked out the door I read the following excerpt from ‘Jesus Calling’ by Sarah Young:
“Your part is to be attentive to My messages, in whatever form they come. When you set out to find Me in a day, you discover that the world is vibrantly alive in My Presence. You can find Me not only in beauty and birdcalls, but also in tragedy and faces filled with grief. I can take the deepest sorrow and weave it into a pattern of good.”
God summed up my experience of the past few weeks. I can see Him in the beauty of nature, hear Him in the sounds of life, feel Him in warmth of the sun or the coolness of a refreshing breeze but it is important to embrace Him in the hurt and pain and trust that through the embrace His circle of love is revealed in you, through you and around you.
Blessings
Shannon