Thursday, June 29, 2017

Singing and Baking - Seeing and Praying - Opening our Eyes

Hello out there! Oh my goodness, I have so much to tell y'all! First, I have been walking
around singing the words to this hymn for at least two weeks straight. The title of the
hymn is, "Open My Eyes" and these are the words that I have been singing and humming
for two weeks - "Open my eyes, Lord. I want to see your face (the words are supposed to
be "Help me to see your face" but I sing what I sing and that is what comes out!
Anyway, this is a beautiful hymn and these are the words that I have been singing
softly and sometimes right out loud. I mean from the tip of my toes out loud! Now, if
I had a pretty voice that would be okay, but............................God thinks I sound okay!


"Open my eyes, Lord. I want to see your face. Open my eyes, Lord. I want to see.
Open my ears, Lord. I want to hear your voice. Open my ears, Lord. I want to hear.
Open my heart, Lord. I want to love like you. Open my heart, Lord. I want to love."
That was my version!


The correct version is -
"Open my eyes, Lord. Help me to see your face. Open my eyes, Lord. Help me to see.
Open my ears, Lord. Help me to hear your voice. Open my ears, Lord. Help me to hear.
Open my heart, Lord. Help me to love like you. Open my heart, Lord. Help me to love."
(Could y'all hear me singing? I was singing from the very depths of my soul.)


To try and make a long story short and you all know that will be hard for me to do!
For those of you who read my posts on a regular basis you know that we had to
close the Sack Lunch Ministry because of situations beyond our control. It has been
three weeks since we served our last sack lunch. All of the volunteers have said how
much they miss the loving ministry of feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty,
welcoming the stranger, and so much more.
This morning Jim and I were leaving the YMCA at about 6:45 a.m. or so and one of
the men we used to serve walked across the parking lot toward the park area. Jim saw
me watch him as he was walking and asked, "Was he one of the people y'all served?" I
said, yes, he was and got into the truck. Jim started the truck and drove the opposite
direction of where we always turn. I knew he was driving the direction of where the
man went. When we saw him Jim tapped the horn lightly and I rolled down the
window. Jim handed me some money and I said, "Hi, it's me, Sharla, from the Sack
Lunch Ministry! He smiled at us and walked over to the truck. I told him that we
missed them all and handed him the money and told him to go and get some breakfast.
His eyes lit up and he said, "I'm going to go and get a cup of coffee first" and then he
thanked us. I told him good-bye and said, God bless you. I thanked Jim as we drove
home and we rode the rest of the way in silence.
Once we were home we both got busy and Jim headed out to do some welding repairs
and I did some house work. I kept singing that song, "Open my eyes, Lord. Open my
eyes." I put the leftover roast in the oven to heat up for lunch and started mixing up
the ingredients for banana bread. There is a saying in our home - "If life gives you
brown bananas......it's time to put on an apron and make some banana bread!" I had
enough brown bananas to make two loaves - one with pecans and one with dark
chocolate chips! Yum!


Back to my original story -
Jim came home for lunch and we sat down to eat the leftover roast. We began to thank
God for our food and I thanked God for letting us see that sweet man this morning.
I said, "I can still see his face." I immediately began to cry and told Jim that I now
realized why I kept on singing that song. God let us see His face, he helped us to see
His face in that humble, homeless man this morning. I told Jim that I had to go and
write a post about this. I started writing this after lunch but had to stop for a while
because my daughter and her three girls (three of my many blessings) came over.
We finished baking the banana bread and I told them what happened.
I guess that old saying about a door closing and a window opening can mean a lot of
different things. For me and my family we've about decided that it means to go out
and feed the hungry where they are. We don't have any definite plans yet - but the
wheels of determination are spinning in our brains!
I don't know if you have ever watched that kid's show that used to be on the Disney
Channel, "Phineas and Ferb." If you have you'll really get this. Phineas and Ferb are
brothers that come up with these elaborate schemes and at the beginning of each
show Phineas would look at Ferb and say,
 "Ferb, I know what we're going to do today!"
God blessed me with the best husband, he understands me so well and he's usually
on board when I say, "Jim, I know what we're going to do today!" (He is always so
busy but he makes the time for all of my elaborate plans!)
I want to post the rest of that hymn for you -
"And the first shall be last,
and our eyes are opened
and we'll hear like never before.
And we'll speak in new ways,
and we'll see God's face
in places we've never known.
Open my eyes, Lord. Help me to see."
I pray that God will continue to help me see His face in everyone I meet.
I pray that you and your family will be blessed beyond measure!
Open our eyes, Lord. Help us to see Your face and to hear Your voice. Amen.

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