A Post of an article written by a good friend of Asbury:
I truly enjoy going to Workshops and Retreats, Annual Conference and my first time at the United Methodist Women’s North Central Jurisdictional Quadrennial Conference recently. I love to hear the speakers, the music in the worship services and the new people I meet on my journey.
Shortly after returning from NCJ Quadrennial, I was waiting for my car to be serviced and started talking to a lady next to me that was adding some vitamin drops to her bottled water and explained how great she was feeling since using this product. She said she was distributing them through a mail order company. I was interested and asked what the web-site was to get more information about the products. She showed me her cell phone to look for the web-site and I noticed she lived on the street directly across from a church in Flint that I often visit and several friends attend. I told her about that church and encouraged her to stop in there some Sunday morning. My mind immediately began to think how I could introduce her to this church and maybe help her find a church home there, as well as help her share her message about her vitamin supplements at their newly renewed Young At Heart Senior Ministry. They are looking forward to meeting her and hearing about their products soon.
Right after our visit there had been a man sitting at a table in the same waiting room, reading his Bible. A few minutes later he took a seat closer to where I was sitting. Before talking to my new vitamin friend, I had been trying to read my daily Bible study but was unable to concentrate. When the gentleman sat down I asked him if I could interrupt him a moment to ask how he was able to concentrate on his Bible reading with people talking all around him. It turns out he was a Baptist Minister that lived in Flint but had a church he pastored near Port Huron and been studying and practicing his concentration on Bible study for many, many years. His advice to me was to just practice and concentrate and block out any noises and get totally dedicated to reading and studying and I too could master his dedication as well. We talked a little more and I told him about my church involvement and he shared with me that he had recently lost his dear wife and they had been close friends with another friend of mine at another United Methodist Church! I was amazed and so thrilled to learn of this connection.
I totally enjoyed the normally very boring visit to the Car Dealer’s Service Department. As I look back on that morning, I realize that just a few years ago I wouldn’t have talked to strangers about their vitamin drops in water bottles or interrupt someone reading their Bible for sure. My excitement from coming from some wonderful ministry opportunities recently had warmed my heart in some way I wasn’t aware of and I felt comfortable talking to some new people about my church and my faith. While I still don’t know how to measure my spiritual growth, the warmth in my heart does grow more and more with every Workshop or Retreat or Conference I attend.
I’d love to hear from you how you realize you have grown spiritually on your own journey. Don’t hesitate to contact me and maybe we can figure out together how this beautiful gift can be measured.
Blessings,
Michele Weston, Spiritual Growth Coordinator, Detroit Conference United Methodist Women – mweston38@att.net