In Preparation

Hello, all of my precious ones 

Get your prayer done 

Get your coffee or tea 

And come on back for a 

Blogging session with me.

     Have you ever gone to a relatively new place and had someone elicit a response from you that you had been mulling over or had come to a conclusion about just a few days prior to your coming in contact with the person you are conversing with? I have had that to happen numerous times and am not usually surprised by the occurence. But sometimes, I am surprised by the position of the person that I am talking to. That happened to me on yesterday. I was talking with a person in a position that I look up to when I made my statement. It was just in general conversation about the topic that was being discussed. We had a cordial, but brief conversation and went our separate ways as we were going around the room and greeting folk.
     I was taken aback when the keynote speaker, the one mentioned above, mentioned my name and the two key points that I had made when chatting with him. That surprised me and I was surprised further when he said, "You see folks; that is how the Lord works. He will send you a message from an unsuspecting source to coincide with what you had prepared to say." I had made reference to a Biblical character as an example in a certain regard and He had that same character referenced in his speech!
     What I had said to him made such an impact upon him that he came back to me at the end of service and thanked me again for the encouraging words that I had shared with him. Once again, I was astounded. Why, you might ask. I was astounded because I recognized the hand of the Lord using me as an encourager, but not just to ordinary people. I began to think, "But I am just me, a nobody. Oh, but right behind that thought was the thought that God had a plan and is ever working that plan through us, His earthen vessels.
     I am used to being a conduit vessel, but I am not used to carrying messages to positions that high. This may sound like gibberish to you and I do not mean for it to, but I was astounded by the reaction coming from such a position through someone that I had not met before. You know the lesson that I learned from this encounter? Always be prepared for the wisdom that you asked for as a child to be added to and to come forth when the Lord deems it proper.
     Remember back when we were doing our treatise on storms and I told you that you would use some of the things that you had learned from your storm to help somebody else? Well, yesterday was another example of that; however, I have added to that lesson two things:

• Glean all you can during your times of storms because you are being prepared for dropping well chosen words, in other words all storms are preparation.
• Never be surprised that the level of the encouraging words that you speak will reach the normal person and those that have been placed quite high, too.

You just never know; do you? I am humbled and thankful that the Lord is allowing me to serve as an encourager. It makes me feel cherished in that He keeps His hands on me as He molds me for His purpose. He didn't let me just retire and be pushed back to work on simple tasks, but He is allowing me to feel useful and allowing me to not "rust out" but to work until my day is done.

Thank You, Lord for finding work for and using such as I.

Wow, y'all! Sometimes, I get so filled up with His mercy and His grace... Y'all, be blessed.

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because He Allows It,
Alma L. Stepping On Jones

In any new quandary into which 

You have been thrown

Look for similarities to past experiences

That you made it through and

By which you have grown.

...

In any new circumstance, always

Learn as much as you can

Because you never know when you

May need to draw upon your past

To tackles new jobs head on and

To perform accompanying tasks.

                                           (-excerpt from W.O.W. created w.o.w. 'Happenstance')