Are You Going to Listen?

Invite her to church.

I heard it several times. I don't know her. I only see her in passing when we're both out walking our dogs. We chat about the weather and about our aging chubby friends (the dogs....ha ha).

Invite her to church.

The voice kept prompting me.

But I don't even know her name, I prompted back.

Which, by the way, is an excuse I thought was pretty valid. I mean, usually that kind of invitation is given to someone you at least sort of know. I didn't even know her dog's name. So we were pretty much strangers.

And neighbors. So there's that.

I was pretty proud of myself for shying away from an invitation due to now knowing her. But you know God, He's got this great sense of humor.

I visited the salon and guess who was checking out as I walked in?

Yep. Her.

She looked at me and said, "Aren't you the lady I see when I'm walking my dog? What's your name?"

I told her my name and then she replied with hers.

I just know God was up there watching and laughing because now I had no excuse.

I told my friend Melissa about my mission that I now had to fulfill. I watched for the Woman With A Name the next time I walked. And the time after that.

I finally saw her again. I quickly got out my phone and sent a text to Melissa who would hold me accountable. I approached the Woman With A Name and greeted her by name and then invited her to church.

It wasn't as scary as I'd thought it would be.

Yes, even a veteran PW can be timid.

She hasn't joined us yet but when she does I will greet her by name.

God knows me well enough to know that I will listen eventually. I'd like to think I can handle situations the way the heroes in the Bible did, but I find myself more often like Jonah as he's scheming ways to get out of going to Ninevah. That didn't work well for him. I'm still learning.

What has He been telling you to do? Are you going to listen?

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I start my day with an organic brown rice cake with peanut butter and jelly on it. It works for me. The peanut butter provides protein and the jelly provides the yum.

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I get the lightly salted ones. I find these in the organic food section of my favorite grocery store.

Now, let's look at some peanut butter and jelly. For the peanut butter I just chose Skippy because it's a brand that everyone is familiar with. I prefer the natural peanut butters, but if you don't like the texture of them and …

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Except she wasn't because she was still married to someone else. Glenn wiggled in and turned her head and snatched her away from her husband and children.

How dare he think God had anything to do with that.

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Suzanne Schaffer

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