Last time we were in North Carolina we were looking for a church to attend on Sunday. So we asked the Lord to direct us where He wanted us to go, checked the internet, asked around, prayed some more, you know. We felt drawn to a church we’d passed several times en route to Shelby but had never visited and we eventually wound up there.
As soon as we pulled in the parking lot I started feeling very sick, again. I didn’t know if it was nerves, demons, or food poisoning. “Gotta love it, here we go again” I thought. There were probably 150 people and we picked a seat somewhere in the middle. The service was ok, but I felt like I needed to go lay down somewhere. I was glad when it was over and was ready to hit the door. But before I could leave my seat a thought ran through my head, “the lady sitting next to me is going to come over and start talking to me” and sure enough, she did! She asked who we were and where we were from. “We’re traveling musicians from Michigan and God has us going around the country spreading the Gospel in this motorhome He just gave us…” Then her eyes got big, she got all excited, and started telling us about how her and her husband are getting ready to do the same thing, but that her husband “isn’t where he needs to be with the Lord right now.” I thought, uh oh, don’t want to do what we’re doing if you ain’t right with the Lord, sounds like a train wreck waiting to happen.
Of course there was a potluck that day so she asked us if we were staying and if she could sit with us. We accepted. While we were eating, she asked us what type of magic we did. We said “magic? we don’t do magic, we’re musicians.” She said, “oh no, I’ve been telling everyone you’re magicians!” She obviously misunderstood us (but maybe it was prophetic, you never know???). Anyways, when she found out we were actually musicians she got even more excited because her husband is too. Next thing you know we were on our way to her house to meet her husband so I could “talk” to him. Yeah, I’ve seen this before. “Lord, only You know what I’m heading into, PLEASE give me the words to speak”
Within minutes of arriving I was introduced to her husband and left alone with him so we could “talk.” For the next half hour we chit chatted and talked just a little about their possible motor home venture. It was only small talk though and it seemed pretty much like a dead end. But we kept talking and eventually the Lord gave me a question to ask him. I don’t remember what it was but it cracked the ice. Then He gave me another question for him. Next thing you know this guy is pouring his heart out to me about his walk with the Lord and a ministry mishap at his church which led to an eventual breakup of the church and it also crushed him. He also shared about some of his shortcomings related to the ordeal. He eventually quit going to church, reading the Bible, etc, and he’s been somewhat despondent ever since. Our conversation probably lasted two hours and for the most part, I just listened hoping to offer some words of life to this guy but not knowing how.
Finally though, it hit me. I told him, “the Lord is not disappointed in you, He was just wanting to bring you higher. He had to reveal your weakness to you so that you could deal with it, be purified, and move forward.” Tears immediately filled his eyes and you could sense that the Holy Spirit had hit home. It was awesome! I spent the next half hour or so ministering to him and I know it was pretty much straight from the Lord. You could really tell that something had broke inside of him and the Lord was healing him of his wounds. Cool stuff. The Lord setup our visit because this guy needed to know that Jesus wasn’t disappointed with Him. He was actually doing a work in him through what had happened and the devil had turned it all around in his head.
Later, I found out that his wife had told Jenny that she was amazed, “my husband has never opened up like that to a man, ever.” It is amazing what the Lord can do when we’re willing to listen to others and ask a few questions. When it was time to go we exchanged phone numbers & hugs, prayed together, gave them a CD, and we all promised to keep in touch.