Our plans were to be in Cincinnati tonight and parked outside a brother’s house to enable us to go to the Creation Museum first thing Monday morning. After the conference last night, we decided to get a little ways down the road, but not too far, since we’re usually drained after a conference. We drove an hour and a half, and stayed in a Wal-Mart parking lot, in preparation for leaving this morning.
During my Bible time, I felt the very strong prompting that God wanted us in a church to worship this morning. As I was praying and trying to discern what He was saying, it became clear. Prior to the conference Friday night, I had a very good prayer time with the pastor of the church who hosted the conference. And after the prayer time and talking, the Lord encouraged me to tell him that if I could ever help them in some way, to please let me know. At the end of the conference, the pastor was speaking to one of the children, and he mentioned to them that he was really hoping we would stay and take the Sunday service for the church.
When we were about to leave, he mentioned it to me. I shared that we had plans to be in Cincinnati Sunday night, and we needed to be going. During my prayer time this morning, and sorting through what the Lord was trying to get my attention on, He reminded me of both my statement (doing whatever I could to help) and the pastor’s desire, even though it wasn’t a direct request, to minister to his body of believers. So, I called him, about 7:30 this morning, to see if that was still his heart, but no one answered. I waited about five more minutes, and decided to try him one more time. No answer.
Right then, my phone rang, and it was the pastor calling back. I answered it and shared with him that I wondered if the Lord wanted us to drive the hour and a half back to the church to minister there this morning. He readily agreed that it was still the desire of his heart, and he would welcome that.
So, back we went, arriving in time to set up. He gave the service to us, which included singing several songs plus the message and invitation. During the service, the pastor shared with everyone how God wants us to use us all. This morning, He even used a Chihuahua. The pastor doesn’t usually answer his phone until before church, but this morning their dog did something he’s not done before. He started barking at the phone, which was upstairs. The pastor noticed the missed calls, and he returned my call, which enabled us to be there in time for the service. We were greatly blessed by being with their fellowship this morning, and for the lesson that I had to learn in the process.
We are still planning on going to the museum tomorrow… (Sarah will post a weekend conference report later!).
Steve
Special Music
The pastor heard that Jesse's birthday was Friday, and he wanted the church to sing "happy birthday" to him.
“A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).
