Last week, Ruthie and Zeke attended VBS at Joshua's parents' church every morning from 9am to 12noon. They go to AWANA there on Wednesday nights, so they were excited about it (plus, Joshua's middle brother, Shea, is one of the primary children's workers). This was great for me...alone time!
On Wednesday, I was scheduled to meet with my good friend, Amber, at Cracker Barrel. Amber suggested that we meet there which was okay with me...because Joshua's employment is "sketchy" I had just planned on not eating and enjoy our time together. I dropped the kids off at 9am at VBS and I went to Cracker Barrel. I got there that early because I wanted to use the time to sit by myself and do some "learning" on my own. So, I sat there from 9:15am to 10:30am listening to Mark Driscoll's sermon "Creation: God Makes" (from his "Doctrine" series). Because I knew that Mark Driscoll's sermons are, on average, at least an hour long, I figured I would have enough time to listen to the whole thing...undisturbed. Of course, I didn't listen to the entire sermon because I kept pausing it to take notes (4 pages front/back and only got through 1/2 of the sermon).
Amber got there at 10:30am. Even though I know that our family's financial situation is unstable, I decided to order something small/cheap to eat...I had forgotten to eat anything before I left the house...and I cannot take my meds without food (I've tried that before and learned that when my doctor said, "take it with food," it wasn't just a suggestion). We started talking and chatting...I was talking to her about a "lesson" I had learned from our time at a previous church we attended...that I believe the primary reason God had us there was for me to learn submission/obedience to my husband (and his leadership) and for Joshua to learn to accept/listen to the wise counsel of his wife. We discussed a few other things, etc.
The waitress came over and asked if we were ready for our check and we said we were. She then came back and said, "Your check has been taken care of." Amber and I looked at each other completely surprised. Basically, I was kinda freaked out: 1) #LetsBeHonest I'm slightly paranoid and it freaks me out that someone is watching me enough to make a decision whether or not they should pay for my meal. 2) I have never had this happen to me before...
A few minutes after that, this man came over to our table and tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Thanks for your testimony." Then, he walked off smiling. I have no idea who this man was, have never seen him before and, honestly, I'm not really sure what he's referring to. Was he talking about me sitting there for an hour listening to a sermon and taking notes? Did he overhear me talking about what God has taught me? I don't know.
But, I did walk away with a few conclusions: 1) I'm not paranoid, there are people watching you!! (hopefully, you take that as a joke!) 2) God, supernaturally, paid for my meal knowing that even $5 helps our budget right now. 3) The fact that people are watching me, seeing my testimony, and thanking me for it makes me wonder what people are thinking when I'm not "living up to" my testimony. 4) If a stranger can see this much of my testimony in a few minutes, what kind of testimony do I have with those I am closest to (Joshua, Ruthie, Zeke)? I have heard preachers, pastors, etc. say/teach a zillion times that as a Christian people are watching you...it's up to you what they are seeing...that 'you may be the only Jesus they see," "actions speak louder than words," "walk the walk not just talk the talk." But, I have never felt those statements more strongly than I did last Wednesday.
Anyway, all that is to say that God surprises us and provides for us when we least expect it, God surprises us and allows encouragement from others as evidence that He is using us, and "we are ambassadors for Christ" (2 Cor. 5:20) and that what we do/say has an affect on those around us.
PS On that Wednesday I was wearing a short-sleeved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt and a jacket over it (because all restaurants set their thermostat at "freezing"), so he didn't see my tattoos...in case you were wondering. ;)
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