Just an Ordinary Day

Today will be just another ordinary day. Tomorrow probably will be too. Dishes, laundry, work-out, work, homeschooling...you get the point.

A few weeks ago, I was having one of these typical ordinary days. I was at work, straightening shelves, checking out customers, dusting, bad attitude, listening to my boss gripe about yet another ordinary thing, and then I met Helen. I didn't know there was anything special about Helen either. She looked like an ordinary woman buying ordinary books in an ordinary Christian bookstore.

She looked confused and as though she couldn't find what she was looking for, so I approached her. I asked her if there was something I could help her find, and she said, "Missionary stories." Well, that's not so ordinary in our typical Bible-belt community here. Missionary stories should be read, but usually, people just want Christian Fiction, or the latest self-help book on how to get out of debt. So immediately, she grabbed my attention. She spoke with an accent that I couldn't quite catch in her two-word answer, so I asked more questions... "Do you have a particular missionary in mind? Is there a country you're interested in?" She shook her head no, so I led her to the Biography section. I showed her a few and she looked at them, but then I showed her Amy Carmichael. Her eyes lit up. She said, "Amy Carmichael changed my home country of India." India...that was it. I listened for a few moments as she shared about how Amy Carmichael's influence had led her to start her own ministry of rescuing abandoned children off the street. She introduced herself as Helen and told me the name of her ministry. She was in Tupelo for a special conference at a local church, and this was her first time to visit America. She was captivated, and so was I.

My missionary hunger had taken a back burner that day, as I was so engrossed in my ordinary day. But then she asked about my ministry. I told her a few surface details, embarrassed at my lack of enthusiasm compared to her's, and then Jesus spoke through her. She shared at how it was difficult for their ministry in India to gain any ground because people were allowed to loot and vandalize their property just because "Jesus" was in the name of their organization. The government looked the other way and was hesitant to give permits and permission when needs arose. She also stated that she wasn't allowed to continue the organization alone when her husband died simply because she was a woman. Thankfully, the Lord led her son to come back to India to help lead.

As she spoke that day, I was convicted once again that God did call me, and compared to her, my life had been relatively easy. I had to ask myself, "Would I continue if I faced that sort of opposition every single day?"

After she left, I looked down at the business card she handed me. We exchanged email addresses in order to keep in touch, but all I saw on that card was Jesus. In the midst of my typical, ordinary day, Jesus came. It wasn't ordinary at all...