Monday, November 29, 2010

Beautiful Monday Morning! A reflection on reading...

It's a beautiful Monday morning outside my window. I just saw a book on Susanne's blog and the cover is what caught my eye at first...then the title. The two together made for an irresistible combo; have a look -

It is called It's No Secret: Revealing Divine Truths Every Woman Should Know.  The author, Rachel Olsen, also co-wrote God's Purpose for Every Woman with Lysa TerKeurst and she speaks for one of my favorite women's ministries going, Proverbs 31 Ministries. I have been absolutely astounded and helped through some very tough times in my life by wonderful devotionals and Bible studies from P31M. The first book from this ministry I ever laid hands -or eyes- on was Satisfied Lives for Desperate Housewives. I had become completely caught up in that show and the title drew me in. I realized, after reading only the introduction while standing in a Walmart that God had led me to this book. After all, it was in the 'deep discount' bin and I purchased it for an easy peasy $2.99, far less than I had ever paid for a devotional book. The real kicker? Some terribly desperate (or perhaps twisted) individual had stolen  my Bible out of my car (I prefer to hope it was the former) and I had gone to the Walmart to get a new one. Which I had  just put in my cart when I stood up and accidentally backed into the bargain books bin. I don't usually look through it because it is mostly books that I wouldn't look at twice, titles like "Modern Microwave Gourmet Cuisine" (I don't own a microwave) and a bundled set of "Fun With," "More Fun With," and "The Funnest Yet" fondue cookbooks. Don't get me wrong, I adore fondue, but once you know how to melt the cheese into a sauce you can come up with your own fun pretty fast without a book in the way, right?
Chef
Right, so as I was saying I usually skipped the bin. But that day there were a bunch of VeggieTales books (this was right after Easter) and Christian fiction and devotionals AND kids' Bibles in there. All between $1 and $3. So, since I was walking around with some extra spending money from the income tax return I decided our church library could really use some books for kids, and a few for myself that I could donate after I read them and it would be terrific if we could give away Bibles to kids who needed them, so I loaded up my cart. Well, after I got a couple copies of most titles they had for kids, one each of the fictionals and devotionals and all 12 Bibles I saw it. The book that showed me that I, too, was in fact a Desperate Housewife. Desperate for the things of God which I had had before as an older teen in California but walked away from because I thought I knew better than my God did what was right for me. ALL girls in love I think feel that, at least if they fall in love with the wrong guy.

So, right then and there I said, "Well, Moira, this book looks really interesting. You should get it." And I did. I paid for my purchases, put them in my car, but sat there reading it for a little while. Then I said, "hey,  you know what, I'm a little hungry, I'm going to go by Ken's and have a bite and some coffee and read this a little more." Which I did that, too. The amazing thing was that I ran into FOUR women from church at the restaurant who all said the same thing, they didn't usually lunch on their own but something said to do it today. I had a little girl at home, almost 3 years old at that time, and a 3 week old son. I had literally no business, in my opinion, being out 'lunching' with the ladies. BUT when I called home from the pay phone my husband said, "Don't worry about it, things are covered here, no problem. Have a good time!" And I did. We sat and sipped and snacked and talked-truly talked, the heart to heart kind- that I hadn't had since I left California nearly four years before. It refreshed me, it filled me, and renewed me. THAT was when I found out there was a Tuesday Time women's prayer meeting each week. I started attending and found that the things of God were waiting for me all the time, right where I was.


Well, I am going to continue this post in a little bit...

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