Grace to be a chauffeur

As some of you know, I have been trying to reach out to a woman in my community who is in need.  Last month I caught a peek behind the strong wall she has built to protect herself, when she reveled in the attention of five singing children.

God continues to move steadily for her.  On Sunday of last week several of us had a productive meeting at church on her behalf (I was so grateful that we were discussing her situation that I cried twice during that meeting... the five men attending were somewhat baffled).  And on the following Monday I had one of those experiences with her that can only be described as a "God moment."

Our older children attend a homeschool PE class once a week.  It is during this time that Little Warrior and I usually visit our friend.  On this particular Monday, I was not feeling very energetic. Unbeknownst to me I was at the beginning of an illness that would last over a week.  But on the heels of the church meeting the previous day, I felt I should stop by.  The Princess had made our friend a card, which she wanted to give her in person.  This meant we would need to visit after the class was finished.  On top of that, in the middle of the class, I got a call from another PE mom who asked me if I could bring her son home, an added twenty minutes of driving.

The stage was set... extra kid in the car, visiting our friend later than usual, wanting to go home and sleep...

We pulled up; she was on the porch by the time we were at the stairs.  The Princess gave her her card, we chatted a bit, and we were about to leave when a truck pulled up.  It was one of the men from church. 

He walked up, smiling and surprised to see us, and asked me, "How much time do you have?"  Turns out he was there to take her grocery shopping but didn't really have the time.  My first (internal) reaction was Oh I am soooo tired.  But I decided to give my husband a call and find out his plans.  It would give me some extra time to pray and think. 

After calling my husband, I decided I would drop off the other boy then come back to get her.  But I found myself inviting her to come with me right then and have dinner.  Without hesitation she said yes.

And so began four hours together. Our extra time in the car delivering my son's friend gave us more opportunity to talk.  She sat at our table and ate dinner with us.  She smiled while were talking.  She looked me in the eye.  We took her grocery shopping, and for the first time she let me in her house, when we brought the bags from the car.

So really the "God-moment" was a "God-four-hours".  It was completely unexpected, and completely awesome.  And I was totally energized and un-sick-feeling from the moment she got in the car until 30 minutes after I got home that night.  And then I was sick for a week! 

All the details were worked out... normally I would not have been there at that time so wouldn't have been there to be asked... the extra driving to drop off my son's friend meant extra time to talk... for some reason I had decided to make a crockpot meal that morning so dinner was ready when we got home... and the complete suspension of symptoms was, well, just plain grace.

photo credit Rodney Campbell

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