Get Ready!

Get ready.

An overnight with my daughter and a woman’s conference was the incentive I needed.  Preparing hearts as well as wardrobe was the agenda of the day.  Praying as I packed, I asked God if I’d forgotten anything.  Immediately came the direction: You’ll need $15.  Fold the bills and cover the ten-dollar bill with the five.  Have it ready to give someone.

I wonder if God didn’t think sometimes he should have had me named yahbut, as once again my immediate response was to ask, “How will I know who to give it to?”  You will know by the look on her face.

What would you do next?  I folded the bills as directed, placed them in an easily accessible spot in my purse and then began imaginating what that ‘look’ looked like. 

There is wonder, excitement, and awe in these experiences, but there is also fun and laughter.  I went to sleep thinking of all the possibilites of how God might plan to being together at least two women from different places.  The truth was simpler – and more amazing – than my imagination could (something more active)

I opened my eyes and knew.  I’d dreamed of the woman at the conference to whom the money was directed.

God has an amazing sense of humor.  He knew that I would be curious, but that I had lessons to learn at the conference too and he did not want me to be distracted about the mission.  Now that I knew who I was looking for, I would not need to be looking about for direction.  I could fully listen to the messages and glean the truths God would bring through Liz Curtis Higgs.

Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz came to life that morning for several hundred women.  we laughed, cried and sighed as as the redemptive story unfolded. during one break I’d had a photo taken with the speaker, Liz Curtis Higgs, when I heard a discussion behind me.

Oh, no! I can´t believe you don´t take credit cards.  I so wanted to get a cd for my friend I brought to the conference. 

And for you, the friend reminded.

I turned to look and there was the girl in the dream showing a $5 bill to the clerk, and saying, this is all the cash I have. The cds were $10, confirming the amount I´d been directed to share.

¨You´re the one! I burst out, and then reached into my purse.

An astonished young woman turned to me.  God told me to bring this and to give it to you, I told her. She reached out to my hand, seeing only the top bill, thanking me while instantly making a decisión.

Now I can send this home with my friend she said, her eyes and voice full of meaning.

I turned to go as the clerk accepted the money from the girl´s hand and handed a cd to her friend, when the clerk cried out ‘ Wait ‘ there´s more here ‘ you both can get one.  The girl grabbed my arm, halting my exit.  How…what…she began, sputtering excited questions.   I couldn´t help but laugh. 

I´m just as excited as you are, I said, to be a part of God´s delivering a blessing. I looked to the friend also while explaining that God loved them and must have an important message on the cd that He wanted them to hear. Listen carefully, I reminded, and swiftly exited the room as the buzzer sounded, reminding us to return to our seats.

Women laughed and cried through the skillful telling of a story most had heard a hundred times before.  Yet Ruth, Naomi and Boaz were no longer just names but we felt their personalities, their burdens, and their joys.

My joy that day included seeing the friend who´d received the first cd join about 50 others in responding to a call for prayer after the telling of the final chapter.

Usually reticent about lifting my toneless voice in public, I surprised my daughters by singing out the song of rejoicing. God was in our presence.  Amen and amen.