A Better Plan

I had been in a season of soul-searching, repentance, and healing, seeking God’s direction for the way forward. Uncertainty and upheaval presented from multiple angles. The day was Sunday, Yom Kippur 2023, and the tenth day in the Days of Awe. I’d heard these days described as a season of repentance and introspection, when the Lord decides plans for the upcoming year, and often when major prayers are answered and big life changes and events occur. I could attest to some of this. For instance, during the Days of Awe in 2022 I received inspiration for Tea Time with Truth.

My expectations for the day were high, and I thought I knew partly what blessing awaited. I planned to share original song lyrics with a talented, well-known band.

I had been looking forward to their concert for weeks. In the pre-dawn hours the Friday before the concert, I woke up for the bathroom then couldn’t go back to sleep. Wide awake on my pillow, I mulled over the band being in town this weekend and…taking them a song! The idea stirred me so strongly I knew I had to pursue it. Excited and determined, I slipped out of the bedroom to my desk and typed earnestly, preparing the lyrics for copyrighting.

Sunday evening, my daughter and I left for the concert with printed lyrics tucked in my purse.

I’d parked and partially unloaded my daughter’s chair when a gentleman in a truck stopped close by and called out his window that the concert was in the next building, and I may want to park closer. I packed the chair back in the trunk and drove to the gymnasium lot beyond the church. To my wide-eyed delight, my new parking spot was beside the band’s trailer! I hadn’t considered it, but of course the band’s unloading spot for equipment was near the wheelchair entrance.

Then I saw the guitarist! He stood paused near the back of the band’s truck while I backed into the parking space. Should I jump out and talk to him now? Was God rolling out the carpet of opportunity? I wanted so much to follow God’s leading and to do this for the right reasons. I also did not want to be weird or delay the man. My uncertainty prevailed. He disappeared.

My daughter and I got out of the car and entered the gym through the side door. Neat rows of folding chairs lined the floor facing an elevated stage on the far sideline. We found a place to sit in the back.

An old friend I’d seldom seen since my daughter was small approached us. (Bumping into friends is a favorite joy of community events.) We chatted and she pointed out her children to us among the crowd. She decided to sit with us during the concert. Wow. This night was jam-packed with blessings: Yom Kippur, sharing an evening at a terrific concert with my daughter and an old friend, and about to share a song with the band.

The band was fantastic, musicians and vocalists alike. I soaked in the sounds and sweet spirit of it all. My fingers kept a frequent check on the page of lyrics in my purse.

Partly through the concert, the band showed a video about missions ministry, particularly about one lady who died serving in missions work. I felt a strong sense of meaningfulness as I listened, recognizing the gravity of ministry. The concept wasn’t new but registered deeply. I believed my song would encourage others. Was my heart truly in the right place? Fully in the right place? God’s work was too important for a motive of self-promotion or gratification.

After the concert, my friend and I caught up on the deeper happenings of life while the crowd evaporated. I listened as she described the tremendous health challenges she had fought for years now. She had always seemed fit as a fiddle and health conscious. Barely older than me, she was far too young to have this story, but here she was before me wearing the scars of battle.

My daughter and I shared goodbyes with my friend and ventured to the merchandise table where a young mom expertly multitasked, holding her little baby in one arm and efficiently managing the merch table with the other. Her baby was as pleasant as could be while she moved about plucking the size of T-shirt I asked for and taking my payment. We made small talk about her baby and mom stuff. I learned she had her hands full most of the time.

Then it all came together. As I walked through the dimly lit gymnasium, my thoughts and spirit thick with weighty compassion and seriousness, I became acutely aware that people with needs were all around me—not only in that gymnasium but representatively near me, people I know and people I don’t know, all with challenges. Moms battling sickness and raising children like my friend and juggling a full plate of responsibilities like the mom at the merchandise table, a community of ladies with an array of stories surrounded me who all needed encouraged.

I did not forget about my song lyrics. I could have approached a band member. Two of them walked across the almost empty gym. The significance of the evening, the sense of a bigger picture and awareness of God’s kingdom, hovered above the idea. Not that I hadn’t been led to prepare to share the song. Not that it didn’t have a place. (I did share it down the road.) That evening my perspective shifted as I underwent some eye opening, heart checking, and refocusing.

For all my expectations for the evening, God had blown them away with a better plan. That evening instead of prying the lid off something new the Lord showed me greater depth to the assignment He had planted in me during the Ten Days of Awe last year: Tea Time with Truth. This assignment continues to take shape, and its importance I have repeatedly questioned and had affirmed.

In Matthew 9:36-38 Jesus looks over a multitude and sees how weary and scattered the people are. Some versions describe the people as confused, faint, harassed, distressed, helpless, and dispirited. Do any of these words describe you now or in the past? I have felt all these ways. Jesus sees the people in this condition and is “moved with compassion on them.” Then He tells His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

I think that night at the concert the Lord showed me the multitude.

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