12-14-19

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS

December 14, 2019

Guest Writer: Rev. Sheila Gillette

Scripture: Isaiah 2:5

“Come, house of Jacob, let us walk by the light of the Lord”    

Thought for the Day: Many years ago, my husband and I began helping friends or relatively strangers who needed help. Usually Greg or I felt a call upon our heart to help this person in what we considered a “divine appointment” from God. It was not by chance that one of us met the stranger; or Child of God as I would prefer to refer to each of them; but a God moment. Our heart would be moved to feel the need and circumstance right to help this person for a period of time until he/she could get back on their feet or through whatever rough patch of life he/she was needing help through. Always, Greg and I would discuss things and always agree that together we would help. Generally (7 times I can count) we would ask the person to move in our home for a period of time until we could help them get their lives together. Through prayer, guidance, and grace lives were usually changed and all were blessed.

A wonderful example of a divine appointment is when I met Carmen with her little dog Diamond, at church in Paula’s office- when she had been thrown out of her grown daughter’s apartment and had nowhere to go. We talked for about an hour and I called Greg and asked if it was OK for me to bring her home?  Of course he said- whatever I felt called to do. I really felt you could tell a lot by a person’s character by how he/she treated their dog. Carmen’s love for Diamond was obvious. She lived with us over a year until she could land a full time job that payed enough for her to get an apartment. We helped her through the highs and lows of getting established. Helping her get her first apartment, furnish it and stand on her own was such a blessing. We stayed in touch and remained friends. After not hearing from her for about a week, I was devastated when one of her family of 3 grown kids called and told me she had died in her apartment of a heart attack. They all wanted to come meet me which they did. Their wish was to have Carmen’s funeral in Omaha, Nebraska where she was from. It was an honor to help her family bring Carmen home to her roots and family. Greg and I cherish her friendship, her memory and eternal blessing in our lives.

Living the love first life looks different for each person, but this is how it looks for Greg and me. We have room, have more than enough, are blessed, and can bless others when we feel called by God to do so. Church and the support of our church family is crucial to our mission as well. Shining our Light, to Greg and I, means walking our faith through love in action in our home. Sometimes it’s messy and not always easy, but we are always blessed MORE than we bless others. Giving of ourselves and our blessings is how we Walk in Faith, Shine our Light, and Live the Love First Life.

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