One Woman’s Story: "
The irony of the weekend started when I open my eyes and reach for my glasses. They broke! Without them, my vision will be impaired. To say the least. And so, my story begins. . .
One of the first speakers is Henry Cloud; he talks about pruning. I had just written a journal page about pruning. You prune to get rid of limbs that are weak. You prune good limbs to make them stronger. You prune others so light can shine in. God’s pruning shears are out!
Between sessions, World Vision had placed orange bags in our chairs. Inside are little children that need sponsors, $35 a month. I look, but nope, ain’t happening! Besides, I think, Bill already gives to World Vision for some little boy in Tanzania. I think the pictures may just be a marketing scheme. We are already giving. Well, Bill is giving. I can call it “us” for money’s sake. I need pruning!
Well, let’s just peek into this bag and see what this little kid looks like. There with dark little pig tails and puffy cheeks was the most adorable, sad-looking little girl looking back at me. Little Merly from Guatemala—her birthday is 8 days before my daughter’s. I start thinking about how much my daughter had at 3 compared to what this little girl has . . . but we’re already spending $35 a month on some boy that doesn’t pull on my heart strings at all, but costs us each month. I’ll just put her on the arm of my chair and look at her. The pruning has begun!
Just before a break, a lady was asked to share her personal experience. She was raised in a Communist country and only had 4 colors to color with as a child. Her whole world was gray. When the Berlin wall came down, she was able to experience Crayolas in hundreds of colors! After coming to the U.S., she sponsored a child and sent him crayons. She received a picture of him smiling with crayons all around him. Well, that just snipped my “World Vision marketing scheme” thought off the tree. OK Lord, I feel my bad limbs being pruned, but we ARE talking another $35 here and we have a lake house to pay for and furniture . . . cha-ching, cha-ching. More pruning needs to be done.
On break, I browse around the World Vision table. Just out of curiosity’s sake, almost like shopping for a kid—not that I am interested. I do like Merly, and, after all, we ARE already giving $35 a month. Returning to my chair, I go to look for that little girl’s picture. Oh no! Where is she? In a panic, I begin to look under my seat and the seats around me. All those around me are caught up in my panic. Where could this little girl be? We look in the orange bags around us to no avail. The lights are going out. The program is starting. She must be here. Oh Lord, just let me find her. “Be still and know that I am God” came into my head—another message I had heard this weekend.
During the session, Marilyn Meberg shared an experience of being delayed in a foreign airport and how a gentleman came to their rescue. After learning they were on a World Vision mission, he was more than willing to save them—his sister had a World Vision sponsor that saved their family. OK, that did it. Where is that little girl? Snip. Snip. Snip.
As the lights come on, ladies in orange aprons are collecting orange bags—the bags that held kids who didn’t get a sponsor this weekend. NO! I will sponsor! I need her. She needs me. Where is she? She had been put in a bag with someone else at the end of the row. I hesitate no longer. I don’t want her to be lost again. I want to mail her hair ribbons and colors. I WANT to send her $35 a month! What if she doesn’t grow up “lost” but comes to know God by having a little provision as I let my light shine? We have been blessed with so much. I—not my husband, but I—can give such a little amount each month. Pruned I was!
This Women of Faith weekend was not just about this precious little girl for me. It has been about being pruned. It is about a clear vision to see God at work and not money spent. My vision had been so impaired, I hadn’t noticed I was looking so ragged representing Christ. It took each speaker over two days to prune my heart for Jesus. Some to strengthen the good branches, some to get rid of the weak ones, and yes, some to let the Son shine in. I can’t wait for my pruning next year!
— Marsha Moon
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If you’re an evangelical churchgoer, chances are you’re familiar with the Sunday morning “mini-Greek-lesson”—the part of a sermon where the preacher refers back to a Bible passage’s original language in order to better explain its meaning.
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