Monday, February 6, 2017

Smiles!




Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.  Psalm 105: 4 



One simple smile. That’s all it was. One simple smile from a child that reminded me to look to God and seek His face, even in the crazy days and uncertain times. It was His face I saw smiling at me that day through the smile of a sweet child. She is a child who does not often smile at me. She is curious and looks at me with big eyes. She is not scared like so many children are. She just looks. She always warms my heart when I see her, because of her calm nature, but that day she smiled and almost ran out of the building to greet me when she saw me. She even turned back to her mama as if to say 'Can you believe my friend is here? She is really here.' It allowed me to see God's face and know that he was the one that led me there that day. I had debated with myself for an hour that morning, but here I was and I was thankful for how God shared his love for me through this little girl and her sweet smile.

Sometimes I coax her to come sit next to me, before the fun of playing with the other little girls wins out, but that day she wanted to sit next to me, no coaxing needed. She wanted to imitate me as I drank from my water bottle.  I helped her open the cap on her bottle and she took a drink when I did. As I placed mine in a spot where other kids would not be able to take it, she wanted to place her water bottle right next to mine. How could something so simple change my bad attitude that day. I suppose missionaries should never think (or if they do think it they should never admit it) that they sometimes just need a day to skip church and be with God alone on a Sunday. That was my attitude that day, but no matter how I debated with myself, I kept on the path to going. When I saw that smile I knew God had told me that was not the day to stay home with him. He knew what I needed. That day the service was full of noise and confusion and crazy things, but my whole attitude changed through the smile from this child and I felt blessed. 

I'll admit that after the church service I had a headache and was so hot and tired. I went home to rest and prepare the house and pack for my trip down country the next day. However, I had another important thing to do that day. I needed to go visit a church member who was still recovering after a c-section last year. In the past 2 weeks I had been taking other ladies from the church with me to go visit her. Her house was not easy to find, but I now felt confident I could get there. I wanted to take her some more water and visit briefly before I went down country. As I drove up to her house, I was greeted by 3 other ladies from our church who had gone to visit her. They were clapping and cheering for me as I drove up. Their smiles and joy also produced another smile on my face. The visit was short as we transferred the water to her jeri cans from mine. Then we prayed and I drove the other ladies back to their homes. 


I am thankful that I have a loving God that can show me his sweet love at times when I may forget to seek Him. No matter what is happening,  He is always there.