Praise and Prayers

This week was not really notable in my life. Nothing too exciting happened. Work was rather uneventful, which is a VERY GOOD THING!



I got my music for the Spring Night of Praise event that I am playing for at Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson. I had the pleasure of performing for the last praise celebration which they had last fall and I really had a great time. They put together a top notch orchestra, with their great choir and it turns into an awesome night of praise! Whew!! I'm getting excited just thinking about it! I feel so blessed to be able to play and worship God, just giving back to Him what he gave to me!



Oh, something interesting happened in my store today, which really had little to do with the store at all. I have an associate that has lived a very hard life and has tried to pull it together since she started living for God, I guess about twelve or so years ago. It has been a tremendous struggle for her as a single mother of 4 children, 3 of which are out on their own, but still run to mom when trouble occurs. She has great financial strain, and her mother is very ill in the nursing home with very limited mental capacity that leaves her unable to communicate. She is church going and loves God, but considers herself a "backslider". I have a heart for this woman and do what I can to help her which isn't much at all.



Today, Tommye and her husband stopped by to see me since they were in the mall. It is always a treat for me to have friends stop by to say hello. On their way out, I thought to introduce Tommye to my associate. It was a God thing! Tommye immediately gave my associate a hug and I explained that much prayer is needed here. Tommye had a bit of a conversation with my associate and then, right there in the middle of the sales floor, embraced her and prayed for her. She also encouraged Charlene to join her for lunch sometime soon. I think Tommye would be a great encourager for Charlene, so this meeting may have been a Divine appointment. We will see. Charlene is in desparate need of prayer and support, and lots of encouragement.



While talking with Tommye, Charlene shared that she feels like she is backslidden, and that when she first got saved she felt that God would give her everything, but she has lost some of that childlike faith. Part of the reason is because she has had such a hard time in life, even since giving it over to God, that she wonders why it hasn't been easier. Tommye shared a neat analogy about that, one I hadn't heard before.



Tommye said that when you go to the grocery store, you have a list of things you want. "As soon as you walk into the store, does everything on the list suddenly jump into the shopping cart?" "No" said Charlene, "you have to shop around, go and get it, and sometimes you even have to wait until next time to get it". Tommye's point was obvious to Charlene, that once we start living for God, we don't learn everything suddenly; somethings we do, other things we need to work for, we need to look for and we need to wait for.