Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road–the desert road–that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza” (Acts 8:26 NIV).
One hot, sunny day as I walked home from the Stoneboro Post Office with Robbie and Angie, I felt a check in my spirit as I turned to walk up the shaded sidewalk to our house. I sensed the Holy Spirit prompting me to take the unshaded alley instead, but I hesitated. Why would God want me, not to mention our four-year-old twins, to walk in the hot sun rather than in the pleasant shade?
The urging did not diminish, so unhappily I chose to obey, hoping I was really hearing God. As we neared the top of the hill, I saw Frannie, the neighbor who had been sweeping our house when we moved in a year before, swinging a sickle at the tall weeds. She looked hot and miserable. “Hi. How are you?” I asked her.
“Don’t ask,” she cried. “Just don’t ask!”
I would never have guessed at that moment that God was going to use this woman to teach me much about the Holy Spirit and spiritual warfare or that my choice to walk up the unshaded alley had indeed been God’s direction. Frannie needed my encouragement that day, and I needed to join her on Tuesdays as she sat at Jesus’ feet. Tuesdays at Frannie’s became a high light of my week where I received the spiritual food I needed to sustain me. One by one, others came to join us.
Perhaps I would have connected with Frannie another time if I had been disobedient that day, but sometimes obedience in little things is the foundation upon which much bigger things are born.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, for your faithful prompting in things that are both large and small. Amen.
Photos: 1) Frannie Briggs Pratt many years ago on the day of our last Bible Study at her home in Stoneboro, PA. 2)Frannie, Jane Vath (part of Frannie’s prayer group) and me (around 2003).
(Devotional from Homespun Faith, Reflections from the Seasons of Life, copyright 2014 Daisy Beiler Townsend. Available as paperback or ebook: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Xulon Press. (Links on this website on Where to Buy Homespun Faith and Sarah’s Legacy page.) Locally at Fresh Grounds, M & M Grocery, Leanna’s Books, Penn Alps in Grantsville, Maryland, or from me 724-373-8445 or donaisy@neo.rr.com.)