Last Tuesday evening the night before Bible Study, I was having my Pastor and his wife over for dinner. About an hour before they got there I felt my body shutting down, throat closing up, body aches, not able to hold my head up. Roast was in the oven almost ready. Fresh corn and butter beans were fixed. Biscuits were about to go in the oven, and I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the evening. I finally picked up the phone and called Angie and said, “Angie I’m really sick, and I can’t believe this, but I don’t think I can do dinner tonight.” Then I started to cry, “Will you please pray for me, Bible Study starts tomorrow.”
She said, “We are right here. We are going to come in and pray for you.”
I said, “What if I’m contagious.” I’m thinking Swine Flu here, because I never get sick.
She said, “We’re coming in anyway.”
They came in and so preciously prayed for me while I laid my head on Angie’s chest like a baby. When they got through praying I said, “I had a really good dinner for you. You can take it home with you if you want.” And we all laughed. I crawled in the bed at eight and didn’t wake up until my alarm went off at five forty five.
I woke up with a really sore throat, but grateful to have the energy to get up and go. By the time I got to the church at 9:30 to begin our new fall study the registrants began to pile in. It was going to be a big day and I needed a big God to show up. With a hundred ladies trusting me with the word of the Lord I had nothing but the ability to trust the Lord. A perfect way to start a series on FAITH!
Faith was all I had Wednesday. And once again, faith is all God asks for. And I think He likes it best when we have nothing in us to give, because it is when we are in complete and utter dependence on Him.
The message Wednesday morning was all on Jesus. From the beginning to the end. How He was there at the beginning of creation and how His death gave us the ability to live forever. It was powerful, and beautiful and all about Him. And when it was over, I climbed into a friend’s car, laid my head back on the seat and thanked the Lord for giving me the strength to get through the morning.
My precious friends and co-laborers took care of every detail and let me leave without having to worry about a thing. I climbed on a plane a couple hours later, headed to Maryland for a few days of rest and woke up Thursday morning with no voice. I mean absolutely no voice. Once again, I was humbled and amazed at God’s sweet love for his children.
As I had spent the last three months preparing for the lessons, I knew the lesson on Jesus would be the first lesson I taught. After all, we all need to become deeply acquainted with The Author in order for Him to write our stories. All I can say is I’m very glad He was intricately writing my story that day, or there would have been no way I could have shared His. I’m also grateful for the place of faith He has taken me and for the place of faith He is going to take each one of us through this study.
If you are interested in doing “The Author” study independently with the workbook and the CD’s, send a request for information to [email protected]
