Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Hospitality (02/07/05)
-
TITLE: Unseen Hand | Previous Challenge Entry
By Thomasina Laskar
02/08/05 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
Being up here for the eight-o’clock service was hardly something she did out of habit, neither was escaping to her former hometown four hours north to visit friends for the weekend. The coolness of that bright early Sunday morning mingled with the awkwardness that was within. She came with a troubled mind, uncertain of what lay ahead, and scared of what the future might bring. Already she faced a mountain of trouble—eviction, layoffs, and the long recovery from a serious illness. Thank God the beater of a car she had was paid off, and it was reliable. She wasn’t one hundred percent, and she knew this, but all she wanted was peace to stabilize her. The long four-hour drive back stretched out in her mind with an air of discouragement. There, nothing really awaited her except memories of recent failures and disappointments. How was she going to make it? How? What would things be like two months from now? A year? Would things always be this bad? More pressing, how was she going to pay for the gas to get home? This morning she humbly came; she was ready to receive any direction that might lead her into some kind of victory.
The sermon inspired her some, but it was the baptism of a young boy that piqued her interest. She’d been baptized before, but there was something heart cleansing about it that she needed. When the building was empty she went directly to the pastor, who, without question or lecture, complied with her request. She knelt at the altar, he poured the water and rested his hands on her head. A faint, tickling heart pulse discerned the smallest advance she sought after. As the scales that fell from Paul’s eyes so they did from her spirit. Suddenly, her problems were not as big as they were. And there was freshness about her heart and her vision, and in all of the things about her.
She followed these early birds to a homey café down that windy road and across the highway. The two dollars in her pocket barely provided her the means to buy an eighty-cent cup of coffee. She was content with that, until the wafts of delicious food reminded her of how hungry she was. To her surprise, a waitress brought her the biggest breakfast plate she’d ever seen. That middle-aged woman that sat directly across the table from her smiled deliberately. Before she left a parishioner slipped a hundred dollars into her hand by way of a handshake. Later, she met up with the pastors again at a convenience store near the restaurant; when she went in to pay for her fuel she was surprised to hear that it had been paid for. During the conversation with the attendant that pastors backed out of the parking lot on their way home. She never mentioned her need to anyone, and she was stunned. Reverently she accepted these provisions. She never expected the generosity branch to lean her way, yet she knew it was God’s way of encouraging her forward.
And forward she went. Trembling, shaking, guided by the unseen hand that saw her way through, back to the tribulations that lay ahead. She dried the glad tears from her eyes. She had everything she needed.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
