Last night hubby and I went to a Michael W. Smith concert. It was epic! The first half of the concert was oldies from his younger days … “Go West Young Man,” “Secret Ambition,” etc. … The second half of the concert was worship songs from the second half of his career.
During intermission, as hubby and I were chillin’ in our seats, a lady came walking past us up the aisle and when she saw us, she stopped suddenly with a start of recognition! In that same moment, I had a start of recognition when I saw her too … but my mind completely blanked. I couldn’t remember who she was. I had absolutely no idea who she was.
She knew us though! She knew our names … and in wonderful familiarity she called us by name and struck up a delighted conversation.
My “blink” reaction was that she was a lady whom we had been in Bible study with back in 2009, so I said: “It’s been years! How long has it been??” I was just about to guess at “14-15 years??” … when she beat me to it: “3 years! Can you believe it’s been that long!”
Three?? Really??
How do I know this lady?? My mind was drawing a complete and total blank.
She and her husband were sitting just two rows back from us in the concert, and we turned to wave at her husband. Right away he came up to join the conversation.
Have you ever been in a situation like this? These people obviously knew us, but for the life of me I could not remember who they were.
The lights dimmed as the second half of the concert was about to start. We said farewells, and our friends returned to their seats. The entire second half of the concert I wracked my brain trying to remember who they were. On the drive home I tried to remember who they were. I went to sleep last night trying to remember who they were.
And when I woke up first thing this morning, their names came to mind! I remembered!
Not because we had spent time together doing fun things and building memories. In fact, we had only attended church together with this couple for about one year, and during that time we had only chatted briefly with them here and there on Sundays.
I remembered, because during that time period I was the Admin for the tiny little church we attended … and as part of my job I processed the tithe checks each week. Every Monday morning I would enter the data from the tithe checks into the online accounting database; then every Monday afternoon I would take all the checks down to the bank to make the weekly deposit.
As I processed the tithe checks each Monday morning I would pray over each person. Holding their tithe check in my hand, I was literally holding their offering of worship to God. It was a very holy thing!
This tithe check was a sacrifice for them! They were giving the very money they had to live on. They were giving away part of their livelihood … as an offering of worship to God.
These tithe checks were people’s personal, private gifts of worship to God. No one knew! (except me, because I processed the checks) No one knew who gave, and no one knew how much they gave. Only God knew. Their gifts were between them and God!
And as I entered the data into the accounting system, I prayed over each person and asked God to bless them! I thanked God for each person, and asked God to bless them for their gift of sacrifice and worship.
That is how I knew this couple from the concert last night! I had prayed blessing over them! … month, after month, after month. As the memory of them flooded back to me, I was overcome with such warm fondness!
God never forgets! God never has a lapse in memory like I did at the concert last night.
I stepped out onto the front porch this morning to say farewell to hubby as he left for work. To the left of the porch, a sea of bright blue Forget-me-not flowers was filling the forest-flowerbed. Forget me not … God never forgets!
God never forgets us! And God never forgets our gifts of worship to Him!
God sees when we pour out … and pour out … and pour out. When it feels like everything we are pouring out doesn’t even matter. When it feels as if our sacrifice of time doesn’t even matter. When it feels as if our sacrifice of our limited strength & energy is all just a waste. When it feels as if our sacrifice of money to love and serve others is a total waste. When it all feels like it’s all just a waste and for nothing! … God sees! And God doesn’t forget!
It matters!
Your sacrifice of your time matters! Even if nobody can see it. Even if it doesn’t feel like it is making any difference at all. God sees, and God is pleased with your sacrifice of worship to Him!
Your sacrifice of your limited strength & energy matters! Even if it feels like a complete waste of effort. God sees, and God is pleased with your sacrifice of worship to Him!
Your sacrifice of your money to love and serve others matters! Even if, in the moment, it feels like a total waste, God sees! And God is pleased with your sacrifice of worship to Him!
God sees! God does not forget!
Thank you God that you see me! Thank you God that you don’t forget!
