Jewels

I've just had the most amazing thing happen. My sister and mother-in-law left last week for a trip to Thailand, in which they would be joining a missionary friend in ministering to women trapped in prostitution. They work with an organization that offers women an alternative for making a living, 
since so many of these women have no 
choice in their vocation, since it's the only thing available to them.
Anyway, they were in touch by e-mail last night and filled us in on their night spent
meeting some of these women. They spent some time in a bar they felt God leading them to and spent time talking to a beautiful, friendly young woman. They were blown away by her beauty and honest smile 
and sweetness. They called her a "jewel".

The day that Mom and my sister left, while having my quiet time, I got the idea to buy them
some tangible reminder of our prayers. The idea of an angel pin came to mind. Now, I often think those can be a bit, how do I say it, "tacky", but on this day they just seemd like the right thing. I wanted them to see it and have it on all the time and remember that we were praying. The fact that the idea came while I was praying seemed significant to me, since I've been known to get caught up in "hairbrained" ideas before that just got me more tired and into trouble, so I'm learning to discern when the idea is His. Anyway, I planned to go later in the day to buy the pins, but as days have a way of doing, this one got away on me. And the doubts started coming-
maybe I was wrong about it being His idea, maybe I was just creating more bother for myself and spending money needlesly, maybe they would wonder why I 
bothered. So I ran the idea past Bob, thinking that as a man, he would  give me the advice to just drop it. It's jewelry for goodness sake! But he didn't. He encouraged me to and so off I went. It took me a while to make up my mind as to what to buy, and for a while I had talked myself into something else, but I felt God pull me back to the pins. So I bought them and delivered them and was confident that I had at least not wasted my time and money. Mom and my sister-in-law were blessed by them and I thought that all was accomplished.

Guess again! Our God is bigger than that! My sister had mentioned while travelling that if God prompted her to give the pin to someone, she would. You guessed it-that "Jewel" is now the owner of that reminder of my prayers! They offered it to her and she wanted it pinned on right away, so when it was her turn to dance, there it was, on her skimpy "bikini", flashing and reflecting light.

What if I hadn't obeyed the prompting? I was so close to talking myself out of it. What if I hadn't been before Him that morning for time alone with Him? I would have missed the quiet in which
to hear Him.

The significance of light in that setting blows me away. Jesus is there-He loves these women and is there. He IS light and He is there.

So, now I am praying for a lovely woman on the other side of the world. I have to- I said I would pray for the person who had the pin! What a privilege to have this connection and opportunity to intercede for a special person so far away.

One of my favorite things about God is how He weaves our lives and experiences together in ways that bring such amazing blessing to us.

I'm still processing what happened-I'm wanting to soak up every ounce of Truth and revelation from this. I have a feeling it will change my perspective and draw me to my quiet time more 
expectantly.

In the meantime, I will bask in one more reflection of His glory! 

That's it for me today. Take care.