Meant to be Tardy

A few weeks ago I had an awesome God moment at church. Our church has two services every Sunday: 9:30 and 11:15 am. Not being a morning person, I tend to go to the 11:15 service. This particular day I was running unusually late. I didn't get to the church parking lot until 11:45! Crazy! I saw my group of friends standing outside and had to say hi to them for a moment before dashing into the building. As I hurried up the stairs an older woman came up beside me. She said hi and seemed very friendly and nice. She told me she was a visitor and this was her first time at our church. She asked me when the service started. I told her it actually started 30 minutes ago, but that we usually do worship (music) for the first 20 minutes. She said that she would probably be sitting in the back because she was embarrassed about being so late. I said I would sit in the back too, since I was late as well. We sat next to each other during the service. We seemed to have an automatic affection between us, and it was nice. Throughout the service I thought about the fact that she was a first-time visitor. I felt that I had an opportunity and responsibility to welcome her, let her know what a great church it was, and encourage her to come back the following week.

After the service we introduced ourselves. I told her my name was Amanda, and she said she would definitely remember that because her daughter's good friend is named Amanda. Then she told me her name was Olivia, and I told her I would definitely remember that because I plan to name my future child Olivia someday. How funny! Then she said she just had to tell me something. She said that she had driven past our church many times and kept telling herself that she would go in one day. So finally she was there, but she knew that she was running late and was embarrassed about that. So she told herself that she would only go in if someone was walking in with her, and that person was me. What a blessing! I'm so glad that God could use me to do good. God really meant for me to be late that day. :)