Day 3 - Roxanne & Kate

I woke up today a tiny bit anxious about my Lenten offering. I wasn't feeling very flexible this morning. I don't always feel much like stretching first thing in the morning. And a thought struck me that made me a little nervous. What if I don't follow God's direction closely enough and DON'T find the person or situation that He has for me!?

As you might be able to gather, trust is sometimes more difficult for me than I let on. I suppose that could be translated into faith. So you can imagine how much I have learned about faith and trust in the last 3 days.

So yesterday I was feeling the anxiousness of uncertainty and unknowing while we were driving to Newport to get Heather's driver's license renewed. I am looking, Lord. Show me! What do you want today? 'Cause I have NO ideas! We got to the DMV and went in to find out we would have to come back another day with more information. So we decided to get some Starbucks while Heather looked, for the third day in a row, for a place that would wax her eyebrows.

While we were driving around looking God told me, I want you to ask a total stranger if they need anything. And I don't want them to look, by your standards, like someone in need. What?! I told Heather what He said to me. She looked over at me with big eyes and said, "um, that kind of intense. What does that mean?!"

"I don't know! I don't know if I'm supposed to jump out of the car and ask the next person I see. I don't know." We passed a woman on the phone. Nope. We passed a man crossing the street. Not it. Finally Heather asked, "can it be someone in an establishment. Like say, while I'm getting my eyebrows done."

"Awkward. No. Maybe. I don't know!"

She pulled the car into another salon parking lot. She had been to this one a few years back and thought that because they were a full beauty salon that they would do wax. I almost didn't go in. I was a tiny bit overwhelmed... but I decided to go in and sit with her while she was in there. The women seemed nice enough, and one had the credentials to do waxing... who knew you needed a certification for that!? Kind of glad about it actually!

I sat down and Heather was having small conversation with the Roxanne, the certified waxer... but I was checked out. I was in my own head, consumed by my Lenten fast at the moment. Blind. Totally blind. I finally looked up to watch the woman rip my sister's face and noticed this woman's gentleness. She had compassion for Heather's pain. She was gentle. She would ask her if she was okay, and put her hand on the skin after she pulled the cloth up to lighten the sting.

Finally Heather was done and we got up to leave. While we were paying both woman started asking us about where we were from and were interested to hear more about our time in Mississippi. We told them about some of the things we had done there. Roxanne, the owner I later discovered, told us that she thought that what we did in Mississippi was such an awesome thing that we got to be part of, and I responded, "Yeah. It was a God thing."

And her eyes twinkled. "I am here because of God."

I walked into the room a little further. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"I knew I had to leave Portland and doors kept closing. Finally I got a call from my brother who said there was a little hair shop in Newport. I told him no way. I don't like the coast. Well, of course the second I said that it was the one thing I kept coming back to. And finally God got me here."

I smiled really big. Yep. "Can I tell you guys a story?" I asked Roxanne and Kate.

I told them all about my journey to Catholicism, only to find out that they are both Catholic. I told them about my Lenten fast and what God was doing, and they nodded in the understanding that the season of reflection was upon us. I told them what He had told me on the way to the shop. "So, is there anything you need?"

They both looked at each other, maybe a little shocked that I had actually gone through with that whole story. They certainly didn't seem to think my story would end with that question. "Ummm. No. Nope. Don't think so." They both shrugged at each other, lips curled down in thought. It is funny the awkwardness that comes up at the thought of admitting to need. In fact, it's hard to think of a need at all, even though we admit in our minds our needs all day long. I told them, "It can be anything. It can be prayer."

Roxanne looked up at me sharply, not so awkward anymore, "Actually I have a really sick husband. And I could really use prayer. You can pray right now if you like!"

I was elated! "Yes!" I made the sign of the cross and started that request right away, absolutely in AWE at God and His provision not only for my offering, but more especially for this woman. What LOVE I got to witness. God's heart is beyond description... His nature, who He is, is just SO AMAZING. When I finished Roxanne was beaming and Kate was wiping tears from her eyes. You are awesome Father!

"I am so glad you came in here today," Roxanne told us as we were leaving, "just what I needed. Made my day."

"Mine too!!!" Heather and I said in stereo as we left.

What can I say in reflection except... WOW! After we had finished doing everything we had to do Heather and I went down to the ocean to watch as the last light of the day was falling off the end of the world and the sky was sparked with rich blues and oranges and purples. We were running in the waves thinking about the God of the universe that made such things... the same God that gives us the ability to find CONNECTION with others and with Him... the same God that washed away our sins and redeemed us, saving us from ourselves and this world. HE IS SO BIG!

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart [Raindrop] and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5