Saturday, November 19, 2011

Truth in the midst of Turmoil

Most Friday's I hang out at a drug/alcohol rehab.
They call me "the craft lady", which makes Papa and I chuckle...

Crafts are not my thing.
Small motor control has never been one of my strong points.
However, my God loves to use the weak things to confound the strong..
So He has me there under the guise of supervising crafts.

The staff knows that my visits have little to do with such things, which causes them to smile too.

Out of the closet that bears the sign "Debbie's Closet" we do lug all the bins of craft items every week.
What is in the bins depends quite a lot upon what donations I have received lately.
(Right now a young woman is hoping that I acquire some yarn and a crochet needle.)

The most popular activity is that of jewelry making.
A couple of years ago I hit the jackpot at a tag sale.  I became so excited when I saw all the plastic containers of beads, that the owner gave them to me!  :)

After all the goodies are spread out and selected from I wander around with a sack of candy.  While each resident selects their two pieces I get to touch base with them.
It never fails that one or more need some focused attention.
This is what it is all about!

Last week, as soon as I walked in, Papa pointed out one young fellow to me that needed a word of encouragement, which He supplied.
What a joy to see the change in his countenance.  Papa knew exactly what he needed to hear and he received it with joy!

This week's visit was one of the more difficult ones.
I could sense the tension in the air.
No one could settle down.
There were a few harsh words among them.
At one point I thought two of the guys were going to come to blows!

Even once everything appeared to settle down there was a spirit of turmoil under the surface.

As I walked around touching base with the individuals, one of the young men called me to come sit and talk about God.
Gladly!

Sadly his motive was not to learn anything.  He was not open to one word from me.  This fellow was poised to argue every word that came out of my mouth.
I did not realize his intention at first.

He asked me who God was to me.
That was easy.  I answered, "Savior."
That is first and foremost.

After a few comments between us I learned that he does not believe we are born sinners, nor that we need a Savior.  We just have to choose to do right.  Some choose that and some choose to do wrong.  It is that simple.

I asked him whether he knew anyone that always made the right choices and he said yes.  My response was that then he did not really know them.
He was insistent.

I do not argue.
Period.

If you want a debate, you've got the wrong lady.
If you want to discuss and share thoughts, great!

I eased out of our conversation after encouraging him to read through all of scripture to gain the whole story.  Simply taking a few verses out of context never works.

A couple of my friends called to me asking what I would be sharing today.  Stacy shouted to them that my theories had holes in them, but no one paid him any attention.
They need hope and they know that is what I offer them!

Toward the end of each visit I always share some Words from Papa.  This week I came with a DVD that contained the testimony of a man whom God delivered from a very destructive way of life.
The enemy obviously did not think much of this and was causing as much trouble and distraction that he could.
Though the majority of the residents had been roaming around and moving in and out of the area, they now had all found their way back in the room with the television.  Thank You, Papa!
So contrary to the enemy's wishes, the DVD was viewed by them all!
Many were moved.
Stacy had nothing more to say.

Papa will continue to speak each heart, including Stacy's!

"Greater is He, Who is in you, than he who is in the world!"

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