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Casting Your Bread May 7, 2007 By Joy B. Williams
”Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days” (Ecclesiastes 12:3).
Confused, grief-stricken, lonely, and sad in the days after my mom’s funeral, I did what I always do during such times. I began to search for something to help. Digging through my inspirational books, CDs, and tapes, my hands finally landed on a CD from a few years ago that I did not even know that I had. God, however, knew that it was there for me because it proved to be just what I needed. I remember falling on my knees at the end of the sermon and asking God to use me in the midst of my storm. He heard me. In fact, just a few hours later, God tested me to see if I had really meant what I said.
The phone rang. It was my boss (who is also my friend), calling to tell me that her brother-in-law had died. She went on to say that they could not find anyone to conduct his funeral. Anyone they could think of was either on vacation overseas or unavailable for some reason.
“Do you know of anyone who can preach the funeral?” she asked. Then she added, “We also need someone to do the music and sing.”
Normally, I would have argued with God like this: “I don’t do funerals. I have just buried my mom and am still emotional around funerals. My boss is opinionated and I have to work with her. What if something is said or done that offends her? She is not of my religion, and I don’t want anything said to discourage her.”
The brother-in-law also worked at the same place we did, and I knew a lot of my co-workers would be there. In addition, the widow was not sure that her husband would want a Pentecostal preacher conducting his funeral. After I read the obituary, I wasn’t sure he would have, either. This made me even more nervous. However, remembering the prayer I had prayed just that morning, I agreed to try to find someone to help this family in their time of pain and grief. I knew I had asked God to use me in the midst of my own storm, so I had to follow through—even though it meant going far out of my comfort zone.
So I put my wonderful nephew, his wife, and my niece on the spot. I asked them to help my friend and her family, even though this was not their usual area of service, either. All of them, under the anointing of God, responded so beautifully. My nephew conducted the funeral, his wife sang, and my niece played the piano (she had not played the piano in years). From the first notes of the piano to the last prayer at the cemetery, the funeral went off without a hitch, and my boss and her sister were pleased and comforted.
The story does not end there. This same nephew and his family, Michael and Danan Benson and their three children, have just been appointed missionaries to the Central African Republic. After hearing of their appointment, my boss questioned me thoroughly about them and how the whole Partners in Mission business worked. Then she asked me to bring her a PIM form. When I asked Danan for a PIM form to give to my boss, she immediately thought of it as a tribute to my showing love to my boss. In a way, I guess it was. Yet, I feel as if it is also a tribute to Michael and Danan—to their being willing to be used of God in any way they could, even when it included taking time from their busy schedule to minister to strangers in their time of grief.
The casting of bread upon the waters really works! It is still amazing to me how my turbulent feelings cast upon His Living Waters may end up blessing people in Africa for years to come.
ninetyandnine.com
© 2007, Joy B. Williams
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Joy B. Williams lives in Bogalusa, LA. She still wants God to use her during the storms of her life, but she is also perfectly content to be used during times of calm (which selfishly she hopes are more common than times of storm). |
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