When God surprises you....

God has really been weighing in on me a lot lately. The one message that I'm getting often is that I need to pray about everything and pray often. I need to pray for those that I love (which I do anyway). I need to pray about things going on in the world (our country, our current leadership, our future leadership). I need to pray about what is going on in the world (will you get here already Lord?). And I need to pray about every day things like driving to work or the outcome of a project or meeting. So, being the obediant servant that I try to be, I've been trying to pray about everything. And thank God when my prayers are answer (Example: "God, please let me have a safe trip to work." then "Thank you Lord for allowing me to arrive at my destination safely." What I have noticed is that God is now answering EVERYTHING I pray about. He doesn't always answer in the way I anticipate or believe he should (yeah - I know - control issues). But He does answer.



This morning I had to do something that no employer likes to do. I had to lay off an employee. This particular woman had been with our company for 7 years. But the portfolio had gotten smaller and no longer supported her position. So, we made the difficult decision to let her go. I prayed about it when we found out we were going to do it and I felt an overwhelming sense of peace about it. I prayed about it last night before I went to bed and again had that overwhelming sense of peace. Then I prayed about it when I pulled into the parking lot of the building this morning and felt the peace. We called her into the conference room and broke the news to her. She is a very faithful woman. She moved to our end of the conference table and proceeded to ask us to pray with her. Her prayers were for US - for peace and comfort for US. That was amazing enough, right? Well the story gets better - much, much better. We talked for a long time. She said that God had been telling her for over a year that a change was coming. She didn't know what it was, but she felt she was going to leave our company. She was excited about the change, and delighted that God had answered her prayers to provide for her (we gave her a generous severance package) while she looked for another job. Just then, God put on my heart to tell her something. He told me to tell her that something was going to come to her almost immediately. It was going to drop in her lap, be TOTALLY unexpected, and was going to be her dream. I saw her walking across a parking lot and her "dream" literally being dropped on her. Weird, I know. But it's God, right? LOL. Anyway. She left and then I came home to meet the telephone guy. I get an e-mail this afternoon from the manager of the property that when this woman got home and checked the messages on her machine there was an invitation from the producers for Cece Winans to fly to Chattanooga, TN for an audition for a new collaborative album by Cece Winans! This is apparently called the Sister to Sister Ministry. They left her a code to call Continental Airlines because there was a first class ticket waiting for her. Her dream had DROPPED in on her just as God had shown me. To say that I am completely delighted and floored at the same time is an understatement. Coincidence? I think not! LOL! God is so great ALL the time!! And I am SO glad that I was first quiet or obediant enough to listen today and second brave enough to share with her what God was giving to me for her.



She shared something with me also. She had a dream about me (I won't go into detail about that), but at the end, the Lord asked her to give me a verse - Psalm 27:14. We went on to discuss what I started this blog with that I was trying to be obediant and just be a beacon to anyone that needed it. I would listen and pray, and listen and pray - especially for those I love. She told me that the Psalm was confirmation because what it says is "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." The way God gave it to her was that by "Wait", the Lord meant service (like waitstaff). And by being obediant, I was serving God. Wow.



So it's pretty much been a whole emotional God day. I haven't had one of these in a long time and I really needed it. So Praise God with all of your heart, mind, body and soul.



Until later.....