This morning, I sat down with my coffee and this devotional hit my heart hard.
I’ve been putting things off that I have felt called to do for a good, long time.

I’ve known in my heart of hearts that I am supposed to have gatherings and invite people for games and food snd talking around the table but I keep putting it off because things needed to get done around here first.

There’s some broken drawers, some painting to do, pictures to hang and things to move to different places.

That’s work and Greg has had his hands full with work on his big rig just about every single weekend he’s been home.

It needs to be done and it will get done.

But in the meantime, I’m thinking about what else is holding me back and who I need to be talking to more, checking in on and making a point to be involved in their lives.

I know full well that God places other people right smack dab in my life for a purpose and uses things we might not expect to be just what we needed.

You see, one Friday night ( September 11), I was working late and had to book an Uber at 915.

It was pitch black out yonder where my studio is and this was the first time I had been there that late.
The first driver that accepted my ride request was twenty minutes away.

I cancelled by clicking the “wait time to long” button and another driver took it and was only two minutes out.

Yahoo!
I grabbed my things and sat on the front porch, sending messages through the app as fast as I could.

“ Look for sign that says Sylvie ‘s Holistic Massage and Spa”

“Turn there and follow back to a little four plex”

The driver replies,” I don’t see the sign. Can you call me?”

I groaned.

Every time a driver has asked me to call and I type back that I can’t because I’m deaf and can’t understand strangers on the phone, I get dropped.

But I went ahead and texted him.

“ I’m deaf. I can’t call you.”

Seconds later, I get another message

“I found the sign. I’m coming!”

Whew! I was so relieved!

The car pulled in the parking lot. It was the only car and I was standing out yonder all alone.

It had to be my Uber man.

I opened the front passenger door ( it’s a deaf thing- I won’t ride in back- I read lips and it’s impossible to read lips from the back seat) and the driver looked at me with a big smile and SIGNED to me!

I was so surprised.

I’ve taken nearly 1800 Uber rides and only one other driver knew ASL.

I settled in and turned on my Ava app so he wouldn’t have to drive with the interior light shining in his eyes.

He told me that way back when he was younger, he was a camp
Counselor at a deaf Christian camp in Tennessee and learned sign language then.

I laughed because that was the very same camp my mom tried to get me to go when I was a teenager and I flatly refused on two grounds- I wasn’t deaf enough and didn’t know any sign language and the dress code made me get all riled up- I still remember reading the pamphlets with ” no shorts, jeans or two piece bathing suits allowed.”

We started talking about what he had on his Uber profile- a musician- and I realized I had danced to his band many, many times at the place he had just dropped off his previous riders before heading to get me.

I am only two minutes from Southern Junction Nightclub & Steakhouse and before my Covid injury, Greg Mead and I used to go dancing just about every weekend.

I’ve been going to that place since I was 16 and it holds a thousand memories.

Anyways my driver, Matthew, said “ I play all these instruments and I sing, too, for Jesus!”

And then we get to talking about Jesus and church and all that kind of stuff.

I told him that we’ve been going to a mega church where we are lost in the crowd but we just keep going anyways.

Next thing I know he’s telling me about Top Rail Cowboy Church and inviting me to bring my family and come on out.

I thanked him but didn’t make any promises because I knew I had to sweet talk my husband and my son into trying yet another new place.

So Saturday comes and I mentioned it to both of them and after checking the time on the website, it was decided that we’ll give it a shot.

Well, let’s just say that we have been there every Sunday morning since and we even made it out to the Revival a few nights last week.

This is just one of the ways God works things out for our good and His glory.

A simple ride on a dark
Highway striking up a conversation that leads to a light filled arena where the Word is preached and the pastor starts singing just because he feels like it belongs in the middle of the sermon.

This truth from my Youversion devotional,

“He has placed you there for a purpose, whether you have already discovered it or not.”

Every encounter, every ride, every body that waltzes into our lives can be an answered prayer, an invitation, a blessing in disguise.

It can cause me to write my heart out another time, and it can give hope to somebody that’s just holding on for dear life.

It can be extraordinary and it might be just a plain ol’ ordinary thing that turns into a treasure you didn’t realize at the time.

That’s the way things can be when you let Jesus take the wheel and open up your heart to what He’s trying to do.

I got a feeling those cabinet drawers will be getting replaced real soon and I might get some painting done, too.

I sure don’t want to come face to face with Jesus with a bunch of excuses for why I didn’t do what I know good and well I was meant to be doing.

I think I’ll start by cooking up some beans like my Mema told me to do.

“ Just in case, Jeanna’, you never know who might be coming over. Just be ready.”

Just be ready.

Because you never know what God’s going to bring your way.

(Preparing the Church for the Return of Christ: 40 Days of Prayer: Day 36 • j