Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isa. 6:8)
“NO THUNDER CLAPS,” she said. “No loud trumpet blasts. The earth didn’t shake beneath me either. I was just a little girl when the Lord opened my heart and came into my life. I’ve loved Him all these years.”
I nodded, watching Clarice knit as she talked. We were sitting in a sun-drenched lounge at her senior-citizen home.
“You heard that Jean died, didn’t you?” she asked.
“Yes, I did. I’m so sorry; she was a good friend.”
“I was there a few hours before she passed. All I can tell you is the Lord was there in the room with us. His presence—so holy; His love—so full. I felt like I wanted to go with her and be with the Lord Jesus right then!”
And then she smiled, her facing lighting up with joy.
I’ve known Clarice for thirty-five years now. She has never stopped surprising me. “Always be right with the Lord,” she’d tell me. “Say you’re sorry and let Him forgive you. Then you can be useful in His service.”
“So, tell me what you’re knitting,” I said.
“A baby blanket.”
“For whom?”
“For the hospital. The sisters take them and put little cards on them with prayers and Bible verses that bless the newborns.”
Even now, at ninety-six years old, she surprises me. Always serving, always giving, in Jesus’ name.
Will you go for Him? Stop, look, and listen to the needs around you—and serve!
Thaddeus Barnum is the author of the devotionals Real IdentityandReal Love(WPH), as well as a pastor in Connecticut.
