From my journal dated 7/4/03
God has given me a miracle – and I was positioned for it because I obeyed. Tuesday at the Staff meeting, I felt the Spirit nudge me to volunteer to take my coworker’s place on the following Sunday (she had a conflict). I resisted: 1) I didn’t want to, and 2) I was trying to keep Sabbath. I’d been asking for fewer hours; did it make sense to volunteer for more? Didn’t it send mixed messages? I even told Barry I wasn’t going to. But…
When I got to work at 5:15 PM on Wednesday, the Holy Spirit nudged again – it was the loving thing to do for my boss and coworkers. I opened my mouth and the words came out. Oh, well. I’d do it; it’s no big deal.
On Friday afternoon, my boss called. During the day’s thunderstorms, the library had suffered a power outage/brown out. When the power came back, half the lights flickered and there was smoke coming out of the back of the building. The fire department was there twice. The library would be closed for a careful inspection at least until Monday – but we would be paid for the hours we would have worked!
There is an important lesson here. I was positioned for blessing only because I obeyed the Spirit, not the Law (Sabbath observance) or my own feelings (reluctance to work). And I got it all back – with pay!
It rarely happens this way, of course, but the Spirit has the right to change my path. My only responsibility is to obey – even if He doesn’t change anything. (Actually, I think that the real miracle was my obedience; the rest was grace. Now if I can just remember…)