For my practicum class this semester, all of the students
are supposed to prepare a message to preach to the class. (Queue terrifying horror movie
screech.) not only do I hate talking with a microphone, but I’ve never preached
a message before, and have never really considered myself to be a
preacher. Ever. Well, on February 5th, I did
it. (I know, I’m shocked too.)
It’s kinda funny to think about how many things the Lord
orchestrated to make sure it happened too. He reminded me in the shower that morning, that I needed to
type it up. In the prayer room, I
rewrote my outline and found specific verses o use. Then Before class I had an opportunity to type it in the
library, and I just so happened to have money in my wallet to pay for printing
because He delivered to me a customer who wanted to open an account with my
store. In class there was a long
pause after the first guy went, and like I usually do, I almost piped up just
to fill the silence. Just before I
could stand up to take the stand, another guy jumped up. My heart was burning inside of me, and
I thought my ribs were going to literally explode out of me the whole time he
was talking. He made a great segue,
in my mind, to my talk as well, so when Corey asked who was next, I boldly
raised my hand. The talk I
gave prompted the girl who went after me.
It’s “funny” because she knew before hand that Corey was going to pick
her, but she didn’t know what to talk about until I was speaking. The Lord orchestrated everything
together.
Adam talked about Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus, that
this is the one thing that we should pursue above everything else, and it will
not be taken away. Nathan talked
about rejecting the lies of the enemy, and agreeing with the truth of God’s
word. I talked about our hope in
the resurrection and Caitlyn talked about our hope and need for Jesus to come
back. It was cool to see the
progression, not that we had the same message, but like a continuous thought.
When I was talking I felt like it was totally weak, “rough
and ugly”. I felt like all of my
words were landing just beyond the podium like a led balloon. But my classmates and teachers were
really encouraging! The next
morning several people commented that I did well, and one guy even said that he
wasn’t in class that day, but that others had told him about it! People were talking about it?
What? I’m re-awed that the Lord
can sue weak and broken vessels for His work and to minister to His
people. Even me!
Since that day I feel like this hope in the resurrection has
been highlighted everywhere; songs in the prayer room, talks given, all over
the place. The next morning in the
prayer room, there was a sheet of paper in the chair next to me. I thought it belonged to the guy
sitting in the next chair over, but he left, and left the paper too. I turned it over and it’s one of the
prayer requests asking us to pray for two little girls who are grieving the
loss of their father some time before.
What are the odds of that?
That it would be directly related to the same message that I had given
the day before? It feels like an
extra exclamation point for heaven that this is a message I’ll be carrying for
a while.
