Advent is a time when I am supposed to be preparing my heart for the coming of Jesus. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have “ants in my pants!” Reading a book or watching a movie are things that I say I’ll do when I’m older. I even do my best praying while I’m exercising or driving. Besides asking God to bless me in my ministry to teens, I rarely pray for myself. The other day, as I exercised, I had a heart to heart with God. I had a special intention prayer request FOR ME but I also asked for an RSVP; I asked God to send me a sign that my prayer was heard.
A short while later, I was decorating my Christmas tree. I have quite a collection of beautiful hand-made and religious ornaments that I’ve received as gifts over my 42 years of working in Ministry. I was on a ladder and carefully placed an ornament on my tree. I then watched it slide off the branch and shatter on the floor. My heart sank as I peered down and noticed a scroll of paper that was inside the ornament that I never would’ve seen if the ornament did not break. It was like a “message in a bottle!”
I quickly climbed down and read the hand-written note dated December 2008 from a former Peer Minister at OLC sharing the many ways that she was grateful to me for influencing her to develop a close relationship to God who, in turn, helped her through many troubled times. She ended the note saying, “God bless Laura.”
In general terms, my special intention prayer was that God blesses me gracefully to deal with whatever difficulty comes my way… As that ornament fell to the ground and shattered, it became overwhelmingly evident that my prayer was heard and I am abundantly blessed! "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:20)
In Christ,