–journal entry, October 2019…

“I give all the glory to God, for any cool moments or triumphs. It’s all Him. I’m just a kid stumbling around in the darkness over unfamiliar terrain most of the time. But He, and His hand, are always there.”

–journal entry, April 2020…

I think Brenda H. summed it up best…not everyone gets to hear the voice of God clearly on earth.

That’s what happened yesterday.

I went to pay property tax at the County building. When I walked in, my heart sank; there must’ve been at least 20 people in line, all masked up in an (as usual) over-heated government building. I said a quick prayer, “Lord, let me be positive, calm, and content in this line. It may cut into my day. Some things might not get done. That’s okay. Whatever needs to get done, will get done. Your will, Lord, not mine.”

A minute or two later a man walked in. Upon seeing the line, he exclaimed quite loudly, “You gotta be f***ing kidding me! What the f***?!” His disgruntled self queued up.

Fifteen minutes went by as we shuffled forward, treated to at least a dozen outbursts by Mr. Disgruntled, all of them peppered liberally with curse words. On top of that, if a window opened and someone didn’t proceed within a millisecond, he would begin haranguing them, “What’s wrong with you?! A window’s open! What the f***?!”

You can imagine the atmosphere. I thought, “Someone has to say something!”

What happened next was all Him.

The Lord took over, took the wheel…you know, that thing He does sometimes.

He spun me around.

I looked Mr. Disgruntled right in the eye over my mask, not in a disgusted, angry, or frustrated way (suddenly those feelings were gone!), but with warmth and kindness, and I said, “Gee, sweetie, you’re a little tense.”

Sweetie?! I would NEVER call a huge, burly, surly male stranger “sweetie!” Definitely the Lord’s words. Was He trying to get my butt kicked?!

Mr. D stood there, stunned. His eyebrows shot up. For a moment (finally) he was speechless. Then he replied in an almost docile tone, “Well, this is a long line, and it’s slow, and I have to get this done, and then people don’t go to the window right away and that makes it SLOWER.”

I cocked my head to the side and my mouth opened again. “Why don’t you cut people a break?” I asked gently.

Another long meeting of the eyes and I turned around. Silence.

He did not say ANYTHING the remainder of the wait. Nothing.

I’m sure in the past the Lord has nudged me and given me the right words when I needed them, but I’m not sure I ever entirely recognized it before. When you are praying to see His hand in your life…you start seeing His hand in your life!

This was ALL HIM.

My God is awesome!

Do I wish it made an impression on Mr. Disgruntled? Yes, absolutely. But Brenda hit on it. She said there were people in the line that needed to hear that, and see someone deal with that situation in a loving, peaceful manner…here on earth, the voice of God.

Stacey said, “It’s the way Jesus would’ve handled it.”

So I guess, moving forward, I shouldn’t ask “What would Jesus do?” but rather…

“Jesus, do Your thing. Please!”

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