Happy Wednesday!
This past Sunday at Covenant taught me several lessons. It was one of those times where Romans 8:28 became very apparent.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.
For those of you who weren’t there, let me explain.
To start the day off, I realized somewhere between Newberry and Gainesville that I had left the bulletins in the printer. Not a big deal, I can handle that. When I got to church, the ensemble practiced their songs for the day and right after we finished my phone rang. It was Don saying that he had made a U-turn on his way to church and had slid into a ditch. He was not able to get out and was going to need to call a tow truck. His words to me were, “I hope you have a good sermon lined up for today.” I immediately went onto the office, sat down to develop a plan. In the meantime, Brenda walked in and said she couldn’t stay for church. Her back was hurting, and I could see the pain on her face. That meant I needed to change the first song because it needed three parts. Not a problem.
As I sat there, I looked around and found a Jesus Calling booklet we had given away for Mother’s Day a few years ago. The title struck me because it was “Devotions to Help You Find God’s Peace.” The hymns I had picked out for the day were all about peace. I picked the booklet up, opened it to a random page and found God’s message for the day. When Missy Mauldin walked in, I asked her if she would tag team with me, showed her the devotion and the scripture accompanying it and off she went to plan her part.
The devotion was about how God does not give us continual peace because he wants us to depend on Him for it. It is there for us to experience; we simply need to rely on Him to provide it. The accompanying scripture was Exodus chapter 16. It described how God provided for the Israelites while they were wandering for 40 years. He told them to only go out each day and get what they needed for that day. He wanted them to depend on Him. (You will want to read the entire chapter.) Missy did an AMAZING job analyzing the scripture and sharing God’s message after I read the devotion.
Right after the ensemble sang the special music, in walked Don. Instead of having him share his sermon, we went with what Missy, God, and I had put together. It all went together beautifully. (At least I thought so!) God orchestrates our circumstances to work out beautifully if we will allow Him to.
Thank you Missy for a wonderful sermon. Thank you Don for trusting me to fill in for you. Thank you Lord for blessing Covenant one more day and for allowing us to see you at work and feel your amazing presence.
Shalom (thank you pastor Carl) and Shine, Shine, Shine!
Tina