Jesus with skin on

This weekend we were in the thick of potty training with Haley and Toby offered to stay home with her so I could go to church. After being closed up in the house with her for three days straight he figured the time away with Jesus would do me good...boy, was he right! (We've since abandoned the potty training, given the chaos our life is currently in, but that's another story in itself.)

On Saturday I received an email from a friend in Tennessee about a revival happening here in Mobile. Strange, I'm really out of touch with the happenings of my own city, but I checked out the website anyway and saw that the revival and their Sunday service was held at the Convention Center. So Sunday morning I got ready to go and was thinking, it's probably going to be cold in there because those places are always cold, but I don't have anything warm to wear. When we left Tennessee five weeks ago, we thought we would be back in ten days to get the rest of our belongings so I only packed summer clothes in preparation for the 99 degree weather Mobile offers. I have this great, black hoodie sweater that zips...it's my favorite and I layer it over everything. It too was still in Tennessee, but I thought, if I had that sweater, that would be perfect for today.

So I arrived at the Convention Center about a half hour early and as I waited for an elevator from the parking deck to the arena, I made small talk with some other early birds. When I mentioned that this was my first time visiting this church, one lady got all excited and came over to me to give me a huge hug. And it was a real hug too...not one of those "polite, I don't really want to touch you but I feel obligated" hugs...it was a good squeeze. And then her husband came over for a hug. Their over the top welcome caught me off guard, but it felt good. Once inside I asked this friendly lady about childcare and she directed me to one of the ushers. After I had discussed it with him, I turned to see her waiting for me. Then we chatted for a bit and she made sure I found what I needed. Isn't this how Christians are suppose to act? Full of Jesus' abundant love for everyone He puts in our path? So why was I so taken aback by this welcome and genuine interest in me?

The arena was divided into a front and back section and I chose to sit in the back so I could have an isle seat. (I have a big wingspan and often take more than my designated chair space during worship.) An usher quickly asked me to fill the front section first and I reluctantly obliged and found a seat kind of close to an isle with several empty seats on either side...in the front section. Soon after worship began a group of ladies came and asked if they could sit in the empty seats on my row. When I told them the seats were free, they sat right next to me, even though there were still several seats empty on the other side of their group. Am I the only one that feels the need for a little space sometimes?

Ok, so I know this is a lot of detail. But hey, I am a woman, and hang with me...these details are important.

So worship was wonderful and full of His sweet spirit. His presence was beautiful, thick and refreshing. The preaching was great, although fairly lengthy. As I predicted, about 3/4 of the way through the service I found myself freezing...I was so cold I could barely concentrate, but I pushed it aside and forced myself to focus. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this sweet body of believers, but the purpose for my being at this place at this time, was just around the corner. At the conclusion of the service, the pastor said, "We haven't done this in a really long time, but I feel led to do this today. Turn to the person next to you and pray for them." Specifically he asked us to pray for the three points he focused on in his sermon. Since there was nobody to my immediate left, I turned to the little lady to my right...the one sitting right next to me.

She was older, maybe early 60s, and quite a bit shorter than me. I learned later that her name is Leigh. At some point we held hands, even though I don't remember who initiated that or when it happened. Because there were hundreds of other people praying aloud in this arena, I bent down to her ear so she could hear me as I prayed for her...following the three points as we were instructed. Then came that awkward moment of, um...so...are you going to pray for me now? In an effort to bridge the awkwardness, I said, "I really like your sweater." I've found that compliments are always good conversation starters. She said "thank you" and then seemed to dismiss it as she began to pray for me. I bent down so I could hear her and the words that flew out of her mouth with confidence and conviction did not follow the three points we were assigned...she prayed bold things like, "The Lord has given you a vision, a dream...He is opening doors for you...He is putting people in your path and wants you to building relationships with them..." Just as God gave me the cookies for the 5 houses in my neighborhood, I feel like God gave me a vision last week of my next assignment. All during this woman's prayer I had flashes of this vision. When she finished, I was so stunned at how these words hit me square in the face that I was speechless for a second. As I stared at her, she began to take off her sweater, handed it to me, and said, "Jesus told me to give you my sweater." Again...shock...and tears! Normally, when someone offers you a gift like this, we're raised to respond with the "Oh no...that's very sweet...but I couldn't...thank you for offering..." But this, this was somehow different. I knew in my gut that this was Jesus and when Jesus hands you something like that, you just take it, say thank you, and treasure it. So I did. I began to cry harder as I looked at it. It was identical to my favorite black sweater (only this one is green) that I left in Tennessee...the one I would have worn that day if I had brought it to Alabama. Through my tears I told Leigh that we had just moved to Mobile and I didn't have many warm clothes with me. With the kindest voice, she said, "Jesus knew that."

As I'm weeping, Leigh starts digging through her purse saying, "I have a tissue for you"...dig, dig, dig..."here it is." I'm, of course, expecting a kleenex, but she hands me a cloth, hand embroidered hankie and says, "here you go, you can have it." Again, all I could muster was "thank you." Since most others around were still deep in prayer, I decided it would be more natural to chat than sit next to each other in awkward silence while we waited. Assuming she was a church member, I asked, "How long have you been going here?" Leigh quickly corrected me, "Oh, we're going home today. We were just here for the revival." "Oh, where are you from" ...."Knoxville, Tennessee." What? Seriously? What are the odds? After hearing about this church for the first time only 24 hours earlier, being moved from the back section to the front, having this stranger sit right on top of me, and the pastor asking us to pray for our neighbor for the first time in a long time, and...she's from Knoxville? The very same place I moved from just five weeks ago! Again, I'm speechless. The past five minutes have held too many amazing occurrences for this to be anything other than a beautiful, divine appointment for my Jesus to remind me of His nearness! He put me and Leigh in those seats yesterday morning for a specific purpose. There was no accident there. My Jesus had things to tell me and He knew that Leigh has an attentive ear to His voice and she would be faithful and obedient to relay His message for me. Don't you see? Nothing is by accident! Every single person and situation that crosses my path goes through a God filter first...He is soooo in control!

Given this amazing connection with this woman, I began to share details of my life with this stranger. Strange how the spirit works that way...making us feel so comfortable, like I've known them forever? I friend told me once, "Spirit recognized Spirit." Now I fully understand what she meant. So I tell Leigh about this vision I've had, something I've only shared with Toby and the other person involved, and she looks at me and says, "That's wonderful! All of those things I prayed for you...they were from the Lord. He wanted you to know that. You will prosper in this, because of your obedience. This thing will prosper." Leigh is one of those people that is oozing with the Holy Spirit and I just want to sit next to her for hours and just listen to her talk...knowing that the words coming out of her mouth are straight from the throne of grace, intended only for my heart. I hope you've met one of those people. They are such a gift. Anyway, as I was leaving she said one more encouraging thing, "You are so pretty. On the outside, but on this inside too. I can see it in your eyes...so pretty...so pretty...so pretty." Her voice was like honey and I resisted the urge to beg for more sweet words from my Jesus out of fear that would be awkward. But looking back now, I wish I had.

I said goodbye and walked away, knowing full well I'll likely never see her again, but I will carry her with me in my heart forever. Never have I met a stranger so full of Jesus' love in my life. For her to literally give me the sweater off her back, without hesitating or thinking twice. It was truly a privilege for her to give it to me. Jesus, thank you for this encounter with you. Please bless Leigh beyond measure for her obedience to You, and please help me to be more like her so that others will see You in me in every conversation You put before me.