A Blessing Named Patricia

 "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families..." Psalm 68: 5, 6

    Do you believe things happen by coincidence or do you detect Divine Providence?

    Leaving the grocery store today, I spied an older-than-me woman sitting alone on a bench in the foyer, wearing a most fetching red hat. So lovely was she that I felt drawn to pay her a compliment on her choice of chapeau. 

    After thanking me, she drew me to her with a concern. Seems she'd been waiting for Lake Tran to pick her up and, though they were usually prompt, the delay caused her to worry. She'd just had a vaccination at the store pharmacy and was anxious to get home. 

    Though I was also anxious to get home, I followed the Spirit's lead and sat down beside her. Within a few moments, we'd solved the problem of the tardy driver, yet the blessing of being beside Patricia bade me to extend my visit. 

    With charming candor, I quickly learned she was a Christian who began her walk with Jesus at the Billy Graham Crusade in Cleveland in 1972. Since then, her love for the Lord has taken her on several mission trips where she earned the nickname "Energizer Bunny" due to her godly enthusiasm. 

    Her brown eyes brimmed with tears as she recounted her trip to the Ukraine some years ago, how lovely the people were and how her heart bleeds for them and the plight they are now enduring under "that bully, Putin." 

    Though she admitted to some degree of dementia, the point was lost on me as she quoted Bible verses without hesitation. She had a working knowledge of the Sword of the Spirit that could only have come from years of use.

     "'Ask and it will be given to you,'" she drew from Matthew chapter seven. "'Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.'" she continued. "I needed help and God sent you to me! You're my guardian angel."

    Abashed, I knew she helped me far more than I did her. Meeting a member of the family of God is like running into an old friend. There's an immediate bond and an undercurrent of love that could only be Divine Providence.

    As we parted ways, we promised to look for each other when we get to the Promised Land. Who knows? Maybe I will even sit beside her once more at the Supper of the Lamb. That would be a blessing.

The Family of God

by Bill Gaither

I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God,

I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood.

Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod,

For I'm part of the family, the family of God.