T. Wieland Allen
How does God do the things that He does? It's just too much for the human mind to even explore. I don't doubt that He is powerful and loving. He has proved that to us over and over. My problem is that I don't know how He gets humans to cooperate with Him in being at the right place at the right time. We can't even arrive someplace when we need to be punctual, so my amazement is in the fact that He can get six women to be someplace at the same time so He can work one of His magnificent miracles in a time of need.
The Prayer Posse, as we were labeled by a friend, meets every Tuesday for lunch, testimonies, praying and studying about our favorite subject, which is Our Heavenly Father. We have experienced miracles after miracles too numerous to name here, and some are so supernatural that they have "blown our minds", as we often say. We often just sit in awe of His magnificent works because words are inadequate to express our thankfulness and amazement at His wonderful ways. Tears fall from our eyes because our hearts are too full to speak our gratitude but the awe that we feel has to be expressed some way, so tears of joy fall from our eyes as we reflect on His love and kindness.
His latest divine orchestration is fresh on our minds so the story needs to be written before the next one occurs and we forget to give value to His mercy and love in the present one. The actual first act of the heavenly appointment began a week before the situation arose in which God manifested His ability to gather six ladies together in order to be part of a divine appointment. At the previous meeting the week before the divinely appointed gathering, we were discussing where we would meet the following week. The lady whose turn it was to host us at her house was recuperating from a bad fall, so we asked her if she would like to host us next week at Jim and Em's Coffee House where we meet every fourth Tuesday of the month. It had only been a week since we had met at Jim and Em's Coffee House, but we knew that we would be welcome again at that wonderful establishment. Jim and Emily, the father and daughter owners, graciously let us meet in a special room so that we can be alone to pray. That loving act of kindness on their part has resulted in a harvest of blessings from God for them and for us.
Mary was Jim's wife and Em's mom. A more loving and kind family cannot be found in the earth, and Mary's passing was much too early for her 58 years. As Jim stood there sobbing after just learning about the death of his dear wife, we sat in shock for a few seconds, but then as if being called by Our Father to the ministry of consoling a brother in the Lord, we all rushed to surround Jim with love, hugs, prayers and our own floods of tears. All seven of us stood there in the room as a unified cluster of heartbreak and unbelief at the news of the passing of a beautiful and loving wife, mother and friend.
Prayers flowed from our mouths for God's peace to minister to this wonderful man whose wife of many years had been snatched out of his life. After a few minutes, Jim broke free from our embrace and went into another room to tell Emily that her mom was no longer a part of their earthly lives. It was a beautiful, yet horrible, sight to see the two of them locked in a loving embrace with each other, grieving from the depths of their beings. It will be a long time before we stop hearing in our minds the heart wrenching, "No. No. No," that came from Emily's mouth which broke our hearts. I know the words of agony reached into the ears of God, breaking his heart also.
There were things to do, and so their embrace released as Jim paced for a minute deciding what to do first. Emily was immediately surrounded by the praying ladies and she was covered with God's love in the midst of the prayers for Our Father's wonderful mercy to comfort her.
We told the two of them to leave and we would clean the establishment and lock up. They took our advice and left to go on to their unpleasant, sad, but necessary duties ahead of them. We stood for a few minutes in awe of God that we had been there when we were so badly needed, even though we weren't supposed to be there in the normal course of events. We could hardly move because we were in such awe of God, knowing that we had been afforded the pleasure of representing Our Loving Father God in the lives of people who love Him also and who had been so good to us for so long.
Eventually we attacked the work at hand, washing the dishes, cleaning the premises, emptying the trash and leaving our blessings there for a wonderful family who has incorporated us into their own family and has always given us special treatment by allowing us to meet and pray at their business. Nobody else would have done that for us.
We have needed Jim, Mary, Emily and Jimmy in the past, and they have graciously supplied our needs. God arranged it so that we would be available to be with them when they needed solace, encouragement, prayers and, yes, communal tears when they received the horrible news that their beloved Mary had passed on from this world. It seemed too soon to us, but the fact that He called us to be with Jim and Em when they needed special love was enough to comfort us. We knew that Mary was in God's beautiful garden of love, but we also knew the burden was heavy for the family at the time.
Being part of God's perfect orchestration and divine appointment put us in such awe of Him that we were almost speechless. That's unusual for our group, being speechless, but God's awesomeness makes a person void of words because no human words are adequate. In those wonderful times, our spirits worship Him in spirit and in the truth of His majesty. Yet, no human words suffice at those times.
We will all miss Mary but our loss is nothing compared to the family's loss. We hope that Jim and Em are comforted in the realization that God supplied six ladies to love and comfort them when they were so much in need of His comfort. We merely supplied the hugs, kisses and loving words on a day when we weren't even supposed to be there. It was the least we could do. They have done so much for us.
God sees that everyone is reciprocated. Love seeds produce love plants. We can attest to that. Mary is present in God's garden where the love plants grow. We will see that her family is loved abundantly, maybe not as much as she was able to love them, but we will do our best.
How does He do it? How does He get six ladies who are never punctual to be at an appointed place at His appointed time to be part of His divine plan? I don't know how He does it, but we are so fortunate to have been included in it so that we can continue to be in awe of Him. It's the awe of Him that is the beginning of wisdom. We should be the most wise women in the world because we stay in awe of God and His love continuously, He is an awesome Father.
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