God has such a sense of humor...

Lately I've been looking on the web at churches to visit and was so excited when I saw that the church right up the road (literally in walking distance) had Monday night prayer meeting. I told my husband I wanted to go, but was a little nervous about that being my first time to visit that church so we talked about it and I had made up my mind I was just going to go on to the grocery store instead. Besides, I wanted the chance to talk to my husband one more time before he went to sleep...

When I passed by the church and saw all the cars in the parking lot, I told myself, "I can do this. It's no big deal. It's just other believers praying together, and, hey, I can have them pray for our family and our house selling. I need to do this!"

I walked through the door, down the hall, and through another door, only to find myself staring at a man who did not look like a preacher or anyone remotely close to that. He looked back at me probably the same way I was looking at him, but I pulled up a chair and sat down anyway.

As I was sitting down, there was a man talking about his life and needing prayer and so on...so I thought to myself, "ok, maybe I am in the right place...but, Lord, it still doesn't feel right." Then, a lady two chairs down says, "Hello. I'm so and so and I'm an addict!"

Lord! You are funny! You knew I needed a good laugh...and boy did I get that...after I left almost an hour later that is! There was no way I was leaving...I had already made eye contact with the man in charge and couldn't walk out! A hundred things were going through my head...probably more than a hundred actually. For instance, "Hi! I'm Laura and I'm not an addict. I've never done drugs in my life, but I'm here!" or "Hi! I'm Laura! I came to go to prayer meeting at the church that meets here. Do you know where they meet?" Nah! That wouldn't work. Maybe I just get up and walk out so they can all say, "Boy! She's got problems!" (LOL!) Praise God...no one asked me a thing! They asked the two men who came in after me to tell a little bit about themselves so I truly am praising God right now. I just smiled and continued to listen (praying all along that God would give me the right words to say so people would see the love of Jesus in me if I had to speak).

I stayed to the very end. All the way through the group hug and everything! Boy was I glad when that was over. The crying children running through the door made way for my escape. Thank you, Lord, for the crying children!

Last night I was crying. Tonight I am laughing (still!). God truly does have a sense of humor and I thank him for the laughter it brought my way.