Tag: edify

God Laughs

Tales from the road: 2023 Magical Ministry Tour (Beatles, silly) 3.28.23

I stopped at a Kwik Trip in Wisconsin to use the facilities and walked by a young woman who looked around 20, applying makeup in the bathroom mirror.

God said to me as I entered a stall,” She has low self-esteem. Speak to her.”

Ok, God. She has nice hair. I’ll give her a compliment.

Aggghhh NO! I don’t have time. I need to get back on the road. Bad hair day. My hair looks like an overgrown Chia Pet. Besides, I really dislike even talking to young people in public. You know… stranger danger! 🙂

I started to wash my hands and was going to say something about her hair, and God laughed. He had other plans.

“Hi, not to be weird, but God is telling me He has better things for you to do and not to settle……”

Before I can finish, she whips around “Are you judging me because I am putting on make-up while I am working? That I should be doing something else?.” Merrowwwww!!!!!

“No, no I just heard from…..”

“Who told you to tell me?” Now she is upset, but she is only waving an eyeliner pencil at me and I think I could take her.

“No, God told me… ” then I went into how He wants her to be happy and do what makes her heart sing, even if she has to go back to school….. and then I see her eyes soften and I can tell Daddy God is touching her heart.

So I finish my word and as I walk out the door I add ” I am not trying to evangelize you, I don’t care you are putting on makeup and didn’t even know you worked here.”

The young woman smiled and thanked me as I turned to see an older woman coming out of a stall with a huge grin on her face.

I thought we were alone in the bathroom! Oh well. She was probably a Christian, just like me, enjoying the spiritual ear hustling.

Make it a God-awesome weekend.

Jared

Our young server squatted down at our table to take our order. The restaurant was packed and very noisy so maybe it made it easier to hear us. When he quickly bounced up to go grab our drinks, my sister Carolyn told “Jared” to appreciate how easily he could do that now as when you get to our age it is hard to just get out of bed some mornings. I suddenly blurted out “Are you a dancer? God is showing me a picture of you dancing.” Jared, who barely looked 18, flashed an awkward smile like….where is this going? and replied,” Yes, sometimes.” He looked like a deer in headlights, frozen in place, as I started to give him a word. Carolyn reassuringly interrupted with “she is in ministry and does this all the time.” As in, no your parents didn’t send us here. Ha!

Even though the restaurant was busy, he stayed and listened to what God was saying about him. He looked intrigued until suddenly a look of fear went over his face. Like I was going to read his mail or give some corrections. God whispered “Tell Jared that I love him. Just as he is. That he does not need to be anyone else but himself”

When I relayed this to him, Jared’s smile quickly returned and I saw a lightbulb go off. That for some reason Jared needed to hear those words. God then told me why, but I won’t share that with you :).

We paid our bill at our table and as we were leaving, Jared stopped us “Thank you, ladies! And thanks for the word and God bless you.” I was surprised that he knew the lingo. Must be or have been, at some point, a pentecostal churchgoer.

As I drove away, I felt a sweetness in my heart for Jared. And also for Big Sky Daddy. A good reminder that as believers we are spirit in a body. His spirit. You are connected to the Father at all times and you really do hear from Him. You can help change and heal this world one person at a time. The bible states that believers shall lay hands on the sick and they will recover. That also includes hearing His voice to help yourself or others emotionally heal. How awesome to be used by Him! To help His children see His love for them as you release love, hope, and encouragement. When a word hits home it brings the reality of God to the receiver. That Daddy God knows them intimately and cares deeply. Even if you are already a believer there is nothing sweeter than to see a REAL TIME GOD IN ACTION! This stuff never gets old. For the giver or the receiver.

Please step out when you get prompted. I assure you, it only gets easier and it will help build your faith too. Oh and always leave a great tip, Beloveds. Big Sky Daddy ain’t cheap and ministry is NEVER the tip.

Remember To Ripple

A friend “Rita” once read a story on my blog about me giving a stranger a word from God in public. “What do you think they said later?”

“To God? Themselves? Or…”

“No, to like a friend or family member. Hell, I get excited when the person in front of me at Caribou buys my coffee. I tell everyone! I mean, don’t you ever wonder?”

“Hmmm, sometimes I wish I could be a fly on the wall. Not to pat me on the back, because I nailed it, but wondering if it affected their belief in God’s goodness. That He really understands them. Or that He sees better plans for them than they do for themselves. Most of the time, I don’t ever run into them again.”

I recently recalled that conversation after I ran into a server, “Peg,” that I had given a word to last month. I was at lunch with a large group when I looked up to see Peg helping our server bring our meals to the table. Peg gave me a huge smile, said hello, and then squeezed my shoulder and whispered, “Thank you!.” A friend who had been with me when I gave Peg a word remarked, “Oh! She remembered you. Well, you are kind of a hard person to forget.” I laughed “She didn’t really remember me; she remembered God’s word for her.”

That made my day. I want people to remember God and how it made them feel. We all travel an unsteady and unpredictable road at times. It makes it easier when we don’t feel invisible to God. That the God of this universe cares about us as individuals.

Never doubt that your stepping out to give a word, laying hands for healing, or just being kind doesn’t make an impact. It causes a ripple effect, just like a free coffee at Caribou.

This week, make it a point to be God’s boots on the ground.

Don’t think you make a difference? We all heal this world, one person at a time.

Have a great week, Beloveds!

Smarter Than The Average Bear

A friend “Susan” and I met up for coffee. As we got up to leave, she said to me, “You’re really smart. You know that. Right? “

I laughed. “We think other people are smart when they know something we don’t. That’s all.” Susan has an MBA and is no dummy.

The truth is, If we can keep our big burrito hole closed more often, we’ll learn a lot from other “smarties.”

One night, at a party, I was mesmerized by a stranger’s conversation. He was a manager at a fast-food place, and I had a ton of questions. How do they know how many McMuffins to make during the breakfast rush? How long do the fries sit there? Do employees ever spit in the food? You know, real-world-changing questions that I’ve had rolling around in my head for a while.

Later someone remarked, “I can’t believe you sat there and talked to that guy for half an hour about McDonald’s.” I said it was interesting. I find many things interesting that’s why I’m a great trivial pursuit partner. Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone plays trivial pursuit anymore ha ha Ha

Next time you think somebody’s more intelligent than you are ….. stop! 🙂 I bet there are plenty of things you know that they haven’t a clue on.

Then share them with me. I’ll meet you at Chipotle.

God Sees You As He Created You

I recently went for an upcoming eye surgery exam. The tech doing the measurements seemed a little rattled at first. Like I was making him nervous. I don’t know if it was my red hair, my RBF that even a mask fails to hide or that my medical profile states that I suffer from anxiety. It was like he was walking on eggshells! Ha! I was actually as calm as I could possibly be fueled up on no lead coffee.

God started giving me a word and I thought “oh brother, this will definitely escalate the situation. But there were other people in the room with us and I knew I was off the hook because “Ope! Can’t give a personal word in public…” and just like that God had the the other people leave. Ha! I hear God laugh as I type this. “It’s always simple, Jeanne.” So I quickly began to give the guy a word before anyone else could walk in and of course no one does.

The young man, “Dave”, even though surprised, smiled and stopped what he was doing to listen. You could see a light bulb had gone off as he continued to nod his head to what I was saying. God loves His children and wants them to know that He has created them with gifts and talents to share with the world. He also wants them to know that He sees their goodness and loves them RIGHT where they are at. Dave thanked me and you could clearly see that God had touched his heart.

As I got up to leave I heard “Tell Dave he reminds you of Matthew Broderick”. “Oh wow. Yes, it’s been a long time, but I have heard that before.” By the way his mouth dropped open I could tell there was way much more to that story.

I thanked him for being awesome and then Dave left me to wait for the doctor. You know I have never had anyone react badly to a word or tell me they didn’t want to hear one. Except for a terrified server who told us she was a Jehovah Witness and never returned to our table with the bill.

We all want to know that God is alive and well and not just sitting around waiting for us upstairs. Please don’t hesitate to share if you feel something good bubbling up inside of you.

We all hear from God. All of us. God will open the door and make the delivery easy, natural and simple.

Encourage And Edify

Several years ago, I drove through my favorite place to get coffee. The young woman at the window greeted me “Hello, what do you think of my new shirt?” She kind of half twirled around so I could see it and then pointed to the company logo that was just beneath her left shoulder. ” Nice!” I guess I really didn’t know what to say, as to me, it was just another long sleeved t-shirt. She gave me a big smile ” Its a shift lead shirt! I am now a shift lead!” Oh! No wonder she was excited! She is someone who mans the window regularly and I had given her a word a month earlier that God saw her in management. That she led by a good example. She was mature, calm under pressure and would make a great leader. I smiled. “That’s great!

I paid for my coffee and then handed her a $20 bill and said Merry Christmas. “Oh I can’t take that!” “You can’t?” “Well I could, but I can’t. You don’t need to do that” “Please take it, I have an appointment over here and on my drive over God told me you would be working and to drive through and give you $20. He must want you to have it for some reason.” She thanked me and I drove off.

I thought I hope she doesn’t think I am strange. Or creepy! Stranger danger! Stranger danger! Ha! Then I thought who cares! I can be odd…..odd in the Lord! Ha! I just do what He tells me to do.

You may not remember when God gives you a WOK or prophecy for someone, but they will. Like Godfrey Birtill ‘s song “Just one touch from the King, changes everything!” It does!

This woman was later promoted to manager and eventually left for a better job at a larger establishment. Never under estimate what God can do through you if you let Him. That is why it is important to edify and encourage and not just read somebody’s mail. It might just change someone’s future.

Thanks Daddy God! That really blessed me. Who ever said life as a Christian was boring, must have never really had one.