It happened so fast and so unexpectedly......I had been in the field 14 days and had not had access to my email.  I knew it was building up and needed my attention.  Finally, at midnight, I was able to sneak away from my hotel room and 3 sleeping Indian teens I had taken to Phoenix for a graduation celebration.  "Yes", I said to myself as I saw that the guest computer in the office was not in use. 

 

I eagerly sat down and began to read through my list of 128 emails.  I had only read 2 when a young man approached and sat on the chair beside me.  I tried to ignore him and continued to read my emails but he began to talk to me.  When ignoring him didn't work, I tried talking to him out of the side of my mouth with an occasional glance away from my computer over to him and then back to my emails.  Then he really began to get persistent in talking with me and I realized that the tone of the conversation had swung from small talk to "serious" talk. 

 

At that point God told me, "Pay attention to him, Sherry.  People is what life is about, not emails."  So, reluctantly (forgive me, God) I turned to him and began to focus on what he was saying.  And am I ever glad I did!  Thank you God for getting my attention.  As the young man (he told me he was 1/2 Navajo and 1/2 Mexican) began to pour out his story to me, I realized that I really could relate to him and what he had been through.  You see, I have a dear friend in my life that has pretty much been down the same road that this young man had been down.  I have listened to my dear friend many a time and God has shown me how to minister to him. 

 

Now I realized that God was using that dear friend to enable me to minister to this young man sitting beside me.  And oh, was this young man hurting.  He so needed someone to sit and listen to his story and give him a touch of Jesus.  As he poured out his heartache, I poured Jesus into him.  He was so hungry for a touch of Jesus, he was like a sponge.  He listened intently as I talked and absolutely soaked up what I said.  God just flowed the love out of me to him and I absolutely felt like his mother. 

 

When we finished talking he reached out to shake my hand.  As I shook his hand and said "God Bless You!", he took his other arm and circled it around me in a huge hug.  Then he said, "Thank You so much!"  It happened so fast and so unexpectedly......a Divine Appointment that I would have missed had I not listened to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. 

 

This 100% surrendering to Christ is so amazing to me.  I certainly was not looking for a Divine Appointment at Midnight in a hotel lobby in Phoenix, but since God had the Divine Appointment all arranged, all I had to do was show up, listen to Him and obey.  I am so thankful that God has shown me what a joy filled life I can live through surrendering 100% to Him on a daily basis.  When I walked away from that conversation, my joy overflowed.  I think I could have walked across the pool back to my hotel room. 

 

Thank you, God, for blessing me beyond measure.  (By the way, I didn't finish reading my emails that night.  They can wait, I said to myself.  Nothing in an email could compare to what I just experienced.)  "For we are  God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  Epesians 2:10