For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon
grace. John 1:16I wished I could think of a way to minister God’s love to Fatima. She has suffered so much losing her husband and most of her family members either physically or emotionally. Her assimilation into our culture has been long and far from successful. Certain triggers provoke panic attacks. Every time I call her I don’t know how to encourage her. Nothing seems to communicate enough care it seems. Oh Lord, please give me an idea, I begged God one day. Okay, God answered. Why not invite her to her favorite restaurant for her birthday and lavish kindness upon her? Make no restrictions – any restaurant. Well, that sounded like an interesting suggestion even though I did wince about the possible high expense if she would choose an expensive place. A neutral place like a restaurant might work to meet, I mused. How I longed to be given permission to enter her residence.
“Hi Fatima,” I phoned. I would like to invite you to your
favorite restaurant to celebrate your birthday. Would you like that?” She
immediately jumped at the invitation and chose which restaurant. Ed and I
picked her up. She was waiting outside her house. That was as close as we could
get. We decided to treat Fatima like a royal guest and spoil her big time. “Choose anything you want on the menu, Fatima,”
I urged. Yikes! When the waiter came it was a long list of food items ordered. She’ll never eat all that, I groaned. This will be a waste of money. Ed and I
glanced at each other wondering if we had made a mistake. I had heard the Spirit say “lavish her with
kindness” so we did what He said. The waiter brought many dishes of food and
placed them in front of her. She ate a portion from all of them and then
realized she was full and couldn’t finish the rest. What a waste of money, I concluded. Fatima seemed oblivious to the
expense. As we were taking her home I heard the Spirit say, “Now go to the
grocery store and buy a gift card for her.” Oh
my! I thought. More still? We ran
into the store, bought a gift card, and then gave it to her. Again she seemed
oblivious to the expense. By this time a sacred ministry of dispensing grace
was rising up from deep within me like a cascading waterfall.
We dropped Fatima off in front of her house. That was as far
as we could go. The invisible line of permission would prove to not move by her
next birthday. Or the next. Now give her
a big hug and tell her you love her, whispered the Spirit as I got out of
the car to drop her off. So far, nothing
has changed in Fatima's life. But I am being changed by understanding more of
the grace of God. Frequently over the past forty plus years in Muslim ministry
I have sensed that God is doing more in me than through me.
Dear heavenly Father, please make me full of Your grace and
then give me opportunities to dispense Your lavish grace whether my Muslim
friends respond or not. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
