I Blinked……again.

What an incredible weekend we had! Friday afternoon our Sunday school class headed to the Charlotte Rescue Mission where we cooked and served the men there a yummy meal. It was so powerful for me! I had no clue that this place was a rehab center, I thought it was a homeless shelter, and then I thought for some reason that all of the men there would be Christians……wrong. Although ALL of the men were so so so appreciative of us coming and serving them, there was one gentlemen who I never want to forget. His name is Frank. Frank, me, Kris and my good friend Anne, we all sat at his table together where we talked about lot’s of stuff. But then we were able to present the gospel message to Him on good Friday! He was very receptive, but had a lot of cloudiness in his mind and lot’s of questions. Will you pray for Frank? He needs the Lord. It was an amazing time!!

Kris’s mom had the girl’s so we went off after that for a little “date” to the mall. It was a nice time, despite my feelings of YUCK as I tried on everything…..hence, my diet starts back TODAY. Then, on Sunday God showed up BIG TIME at Hickory Grove. Our preacher, he was just on fire, and our Sunday school teacher he was on fire too…..everything was just so awesome! God is just moving and working in that church like I have never seen. It’s really amazing!!!

This is a really crazy week for me, but I found it so awesome that yesterday God allowed me to put His words into action in my life. He is showing me so much each day through this bible study I’ve been able to lead at our church. I’m so sad that there are only two more weeks left of this study. I’ve really come to look foreword to preparing for the lesson each week and getting to know these awesome ladies.

But yesterday, as we had just finished talking about Hospitality at bible study, I was truly able to mentally put some of the things we talked about into practice very quickly. My mom called while we were at church and I got back in touch with her about 12:30 and she said she wasn’t feeling well and we decided that Easter dinner should be at our house……I quickly looked around my house and went, “Oh My Word…..” it truly looked like the Easter bunny tornado had flown through! But then I remembered something I shared with the ladies on Wed night and I thought I would share it with you this morning.

Hospitality:
The following differentiation between “hospitality” and “entertaining” was made by Karen Mains in {Open Heart, Open Home} (Elgin, IL: Cook, 1976):
Entertaining says, “I want to impress you with my home, my clever decorating, my cooking.” Hospitality, seeking to minister, says, “This home is a gift from my Master. I use it as He desires.” Hospitality aims to serve. Entertaining puts things before people. “As soon as I get the house finished, the living room decorated, my house- cleaning done – then I will start inviting people. Hospitality puts people first. “No furniture – we’ll eat on the floor!” “The decorating may never get done – you come anyway.”

Entertaining subtly declares, “This home is mine, an expression of my personality. Look, please, and admire.” Hospitality whispers, “What is mine is yours.”

So although my house did not look as thoroughly clean as I would have liked it and all the laundry was not done and put away, we had a great time anyways, and I kept remembering this little example that I shared. Yes, I would love to have a bigger, nicer more room to share house, but this is what I have right now. This is where God has me…….I’d better appreciate it each day!

Well, I’d better get going. The girl’s are home today, Taylor is not feeling well, I believe it might be strep and I’ve got lot’s to do to prepare for Bible study and another flip flop presentation at church on Thursday night for a group called New Beginnings. I’m excited but I’d better get their little kits ready or it won’t be so fun!! =)