Have you ever had the Lord illustrate a Scripture to you in living color? Not 3-D, but 4-D. He makes it so real…well, because it is real. Happened to me this weekend and it was a humbling experience.
This past Sunday was our Women’s Ministry’s semi-annual Coffee Talk. Coffee Talk is a time where ladies who are new to our church can come and share coffee and pastries with the pastoral staff of our church and their wives, as well as the Women’s Ministry Leadership Team. We have been doing this for several years and ladies always talk about how it helps them get to know some other ladies in the church.
Well, this Sunday was the first Coffee Talk to be held under the leadership of the new Women’s Ministry Director. I passed the baton to Pat in February, with the assurance that I would be available to mentor her through her first year. She is a beautifully capable woman and the Lord is using her mightily.
So, on Saturday we met at the church to set up for the event. I took the things that I had been asked to bring such as the gifts for the ladies, sausage balls and name tags. I was also slated to bring coffee on Sunday morning.
Greg and I get up Sunday morning, I exercise, we dress and head to church. I walk in the door of the fellowship hall and two of the ladies, along with one of the ladies’ husbands, are waiting on me at the door. “Can we help you carry the coffee in?” they ask.
OH. MY. GOODNESS!! I completely forgot the COFFEE for COFFEE Talk. Nope, it never entered my mind that morning. I was mortified. This was Pat’s first event as Director and I managed to add untold stress to her morning. HOW. COULD. I. HAVE. FORGOTTEN?
One of the ladies said to me, “Oh Leah, that makes me feel so good to know that you mess up sometimes. You are always so together.”
Yeah, right!!
I chastised myself soundly. I apologized profusely to Pat, who by the way, was extremely good natured and jovial about the whole thing. She said, “Instead of Coffee Talk, we will switch to water and have Water Talk.” I apologized again….and again. I love this woman with all my heart and I was crushed at what I had done…or NOT done.
Sunday night I even had nightmares about forgetting all kinds of things…my purse, my car keys, where I had parked my car….oh, the agony of it all.
Monday morning I got up, poured a cup of coffee and sat down for my quiet time. Well, apparently even the Lord got word of my faux paux. Here is the scripture that greeted me when I picked up “101 Things Jesus Has Done for You”, a small devotional book that my friend, Jamie, gave me.
“Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in my weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in
difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”2 Corinthians 12: 9b-10.
Holy Spirit was reminding me that even in my weakness, my forgetfulness, He is strong and I am strong. Oh yes, I’ve got me some weaknesses. I’m so thankful for mercy and forgiveness and the power of Christ when I am weak.
