Three Exhortations & A Surprise in the Mail by Crystal

On July 29, 2002 Mom, my brother Jeremiah, & myself were in a train wreck. But that event is not the real subject of this article. I only mention it briefly here due to the part it played. Mom sustained an enclosed "mild" traumatic brain injury, one of the results was a balance problem. In 2007 God sent a beautiful golden retriever to Mom in order to assist with her balance. As Mom learned more about service dogs, God gave her a desire to educate others about them and share her story. In 2008, one tool the Lord led her to was Toastmasters International.


As for me, I just chauffeured her to her meetings. I sat in on them just in case Mom needed help with anything. In the beginning I sat in the back and worked on craft projects, trying to make the most of my time. One day one of those in leadership asked if I wanted to do what is called a "Table Topic" - a spontaneous one to two minute speech on a provided subject formerly unknown to the speaker. I agreed. Then slowly over time I was asked to do other things and fill in for others since it was a small club. I was also greatly encouraged to join. It was something I did not mind doing but really did not have an interest in and therefore declined. For me, I really did not feel God wanting me to do it. If I did, I would have joined even if it was not something I was interested in. Besides, with finances being on the tight side I could not mentally justify spending the money on it. Eventually I came up with the excuse "it's just not something I want to pursue right now, maybe someday". It worked well in stilling people's tongues and it WAS the truth.


A while back during a phone conversation with a very dear friend, Alicia, Mom's involvement in Toastmaster's came up. She, a non-Toastmaster tried to encourage me to join. I thought "oh no, not you too! You're supposed to be on "my side". :-) Her encouragement came sandwiched in between pressure from Mom & her fellow Toastmasters to join. Mom would persistently try and get me to join. One day I asked her to "get off my back" and explained the above reasons. And she did, for which I was immensely grateful! Then in July another friend, Elizabeth, via the Internet who is a non-Toastmaster encouraged me to join! Again, I had the previous thoughts. Then in August while I was out of town yet another friend, also a non-Toastmaster, - this time the encounter was face to face, encouraged me to join! The encouragement came quite unexpectedly and I really did not want to hear it! But, at the same time I was also beginning to feel that the Lord wanted me to join. I knew that God was trying to get my attention when three individuals who were non Toastmaster's, who do not know one another, at different time periods encouraged me to join Toastmaster's - that kind of blows my mind away! I honestly had not felt the Lord calling me to join until recently. I knew there were ways that God could be glorified, but did not feel the call. So I chose to submit in my spirit to the Lord.



Now that I was ready, I didn't know how to pay for it. Extra funds had been pretty much spent on the WIT Singles Conference trip. I could have asked Grandpa to pay for it, but did not feel right doing so. And there would not be enough time before the next meeting to save up for it. Then a mysterious envelope arrived in the mail on Saturday, August 21st. It was postmarked August 19th from Greenville, SC and addressed to Mom & myself in a distinctly feminine hand. There was no return address on the exterior of the envelope. I opened it and to my great surprise there was $55 cash inside! And no note or letter of any kind. Neither Mom nor I can figure out who sent it. At first we did the natural and started thinking of ways to spend it - wouldn't you? :-). As I pondered this mystery I knew there had be a reason for it - that God had sent this for a specific reason. Then it dawned on me.... the Lord had sent it to provide payment to join Toastmasters! I still have no clue who sent it, but whoever did, that person must have been obeying the Lord in faith. It would be nice to know who he/she is, but will probably have to wait until I see Jesus and He tells me. One lesson to learn from the anonymous friend is to obey the Lord when He tells you to do something no matter how absurd it sounds.