A Note From Donna

07 Sep A Note From Donna

Today, as I read my Bible, I read this verse with a different perspective: “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants.” Psalm 116:15. It brought me great comfort as I thought of how our great loss and sorrow brings great joy to the Lord as He receives our loved ones who have faithfully served Him. As our grief continues, and it will until we are at home with the Lord, we find comfort each day imagining our son with the Lord. We thank you for your continued prayers and words of encouragement.

One day this week, Phil and I were walking out of a hardware store when a young man greeted us very enthusiastically. People in Santa Rosa are very cordial, and it’s not unusual for people to greet us. But this young man went beyond greeting and said, “Do you remember me?” When I looked closely, I saw the face of a young boy from years back in the form of a young man. This is one of 3 boys that I invited to church 13 years ago when we first moved to Santa Rosa. They all lived on the same street where the church building was located (at that time). They were boys who had no supervision, no limitations, and no real love or care from anyone. But they accepted my invitation and commenced to create all kinds of havoc in our little Sunday School ministry. It makes me chuckle to think about all the crazy things they did and how many times someone would drag them to me to handle. Time passed, and two of the three boys were taken by child services from their families and placed in orphanages. I lost track of the third boy, who is the one I ran into this week. He hugged us tightly and said, “Thank you for loving me and accepting me and helping me at a very difficult time in my life. I had never met anyone who loved me like that.” Of course, we urged him to come back to church and he says he will, but time will tell. This reminded me that we really can’t measure the results of doing what God calls us to do in any given moment. It also reminded me that I should do the next thing God places in my path to do. It truly is a wonderful gift to work for the God of the Universe who sees all and is at work in all things. I hope you and I both will faithfully respond to whomever God places in our paths.