Friday, July 30, 2004

working saints
 
Lately, my mind has sought refuge in the memory of a woman whose name I cannot remember.   She walked quietly through a brief portion of my life during a time when I scurried forth in front of a four-prong prod: being the mother of young children, wife, writer and caretaker to a dying parent.  I don’t remember her name.  I’ll call her Barbara.

Barbara and I met at a writer’s night at a store in Hunt Valley Mall owned by author Bernadette A. Moyer.  Barbara wrote a children's book, published, beautifully illustrated.  But tucked away somewhere at home a novel waited to be loosed on the general public.  I later visited Barbara at her home where she lived with her retired husband.  And in good faith, I took the manuscript, eager to read it.  But I didn't.  Life got away with me.  Mom got sicker, the kids more involved, Will's dot com venture more frantic.  I regret that and if you're reading this, my friend, please email me!

Barbara gave me a gift that day she opened the door to her home with a wide sweep and made me tea and cookies.  We sat together in her living room talking books.  Then we switched to God and Barbara changed my life forever with just six words.

"I just love God so much."

Six words uttered with the matter-of-fact familiarity and unmistakeable affection one would use to describe one's feelings for say, a sister, a best friend, or quite possibly a lover you've had for years.

"I just love God so much."

And in that moment, I realized that I did too.  That He lived within every sort of love I could express and that not only did He own my devotion, my gratitude, my worship -- He owned my fond affection.  What was once a trickle of human emotion -- God being on the lofty plain -- gushed open into something so real and deep, I suddenly realized the meaning of prayer and I began walking alongside my Creator, each step accompanied by the presence of my Divine friend.  I truly gave Him my heart. 

In Prism magazine, Sept./Oct. 2002, is an article entitled Working Saints.  Their definition:

     "They love and influence you over a whole lifetime, or they cross your path only once but make an impression that remains forever, like a handprint on your heart.
     "We call them Working Saints, those nameless disciples of Christ who live out their faith every day, without praise or remuneration or recognition, folks who work hard and bear witness to their Lord in ways that influence--subtly but significantly--the lives of those around them."

Barbara is my working saint.  She gave a gift I needed to get through the tough years of my mother's illness and my children's smallness.  She gave me a gift that upholds me even now.

Who are your working saints?

grace,

lisa

18 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You are one of mine (and a favorite at that)!

July 30, 2004 at 1:10 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Lisa, I read your blog everyday and I don't always comment, but I do always find what you have to say real, and meaningful. Thanks for sharing these things with us.

Deborah

July 30, 2004 at 8:15 PM  
Blogger Jeanne Damoff said...

When I think about the people God has brought into my life to teach and encourage me, I'm amazed and humbled. There are many. But the one I think of most was a man named Rick Perry. God used him to open my eyes to my need for Him. I know the Lord had been preparing the soil of my heart for the seed, and I also know He sent many teachers afterward to continue to water and cultivate my growing faith. But Rick Perry came at just the right time and planted the seed. He opened the door into the kingdom for me. And he doesn't even know it.

I wonder if, someday when we're all standing before the Lord, Jesus will take everything of eternal value accomplished in my life and lay it at this man's feet, and say, "None of this would have happened if you hadn't shown her the truth." I would love to see the look of surprise on his face and then thank him for his obedience to the Lord.

Thanks for reminding me of this, Lisa.

July 31, 2004 at 8:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello lisa, I was surfing blogs and paused at your title this post. Thats what really caught my eye. I am promoting a horse lover gift idea related website and need to find more information to offer some of my internet friends. Not exactly what I was looking for but you have givin me some good ideas about what could be done with my horse lover gift idea related site that I will book mark and come back to hopefully get some more education from your site, you have some good stuff maybe you could visit my website and let me know what you think in my contact page. Just click on the link horse lover gift idea. Thank you and I wish you well .

November 1, 2005 at 9:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello lisa, I was surfing blogs and paused at your title this post. Thats what really caught my eye. I am promoting a Horse Lover Gift related website and need to find more information to offer some of my internet friends. Not exactly what I was looking for but you have givin me some good ideas about what could be done with my Horse Lover Gift related site that I will book mark and come back to hopefully get some more education from your site, you have some good stuff maybe you could visit my website and let me know what you think in my contact page. Just click on the link Horse Lover Gift. Thank you and I wish you well .

November 2, 2005 at 12:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

lisa GREAT title this post. I am actually looking for horse home decor related information to give my customers on my website. I paused at the title and ran out of time to read, but will book mark you and come back latter to check you out some more. I am off to find some other horse home decor related blogs. Thank you.

November 2, 2005 at 6:40 PM  
Blogger melloman said...

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November 5, 2005 at 7:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

lisa GREAT title this post. I am actually looking for Rocking horse related information to give my customers on my website. I paused at the title and ran out of time to read, but will book mark you and come back latter to check you out some more. I am off to find some other Rocking horse related blogs. Thank you.

November 25, 2005 at 1:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

lisa GREAT title this post. I am actually looking for horse games related information to give my customers on my website. I paused at the title and ran out of time to read, but will book mark you and come back latter to check you out some more. I am off to find some other horse games related blogs. Thank you.

November 26, 2005 at 7:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey lisa GREAT title this post. Thats what actually caught my eye. I was surfing blogs to try and help my customers and visitors with information on my website about ##Keyword## and paused to read but ran out of time. I will book mark it and come back to read later. This isn't really what I was looking for what I really need is information about http://www.horse-lover-gift-ideas-central.com related subjects but thank you and I shall return. I wish you well.

November 28, 2005 at 5:23 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

lisa GREAT title this post. I am actually looking for equestrian jewelry related information to give my customers on my website. I paused at the title and ran out of time to read, but will book mark you and come back latter to check you out some more. I am off to find some other equestrian jewelry related blogs. Thank you.

November 30, 2005 at 1:30 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

lisa GREAT title this post. I am actually looking for Rocking horse related information to give my customers on my website. I paused at the title and ran out of time to read, but will book mark you and come back latter to check you out some more. I am off to find some other Rocking horse related blogs. Thank you.

December 1, 2005 at 6:52 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

lisa GREAT title this post. I am actually looking for wooden rocking horse related information to give my customers on my website. I paused at the title and ran out of time to read, but will book mark you and come back latter to check you out some more. I am off to find some other wooden rocking horse related blogs. Thank you.

December 2, 2005 at 4:06 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello lisa, I was surfing blogs and paused at your title this post. Thats what really caught my eye. I am promoting a carousel horse related website and need to find more information to offer some of my internet friends. Not exactly what I was looking for but you have givin me some good ideas about what could be done with my carousel horse related site that I will book mark and come back to hopefully get some more education from your site, you have some good stuff maybe you could visit my website and let me know what you think in my contact page. Just click on the link carousel horse. Thank you and I wish you well .

December 9, 2005 at 5:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello lisa, I was surfing blogs and paused at your title this post. Thats what really caught my eye. I am promoting a carousel horse related website and need to find more information to offer some of my internet friends. Not exactly what I was looking for but you have givin me some good ideas about what could be done with my carousel horse related site that I will book mark and come back to hopefully get some more education from your site, you have some good stuff maybe you could visit my website and let me know what you think in my contact page. Just click on the link carousel horse. Thank you and I wish you well .

December 10, 2005 at 2:20 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey lisa GREAT title this post. Thats what actually caught my eye. I was surfing blogs to try and help my customers and visitors with information on my website about ##Keyword## and paused to read but ran out of time. I will book mark it and come back to read later. This isn't really what I was looking for what I really need is information about http://www.horse-lover-gift-ideas-central.com related subjects but thank you and I shall return. I wish you well.

December 10, 2005 at 12:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello lisa, I was surfing blogs and paused at your title this post. Thats what really caught my eye. I am promoting a collector plates related website and need to find more information to offer some of my internet friends. Not exactly what I was looking for but you have givin me some good ideas about what could be done with my collector plates related site that I will book mark and come back to hopefully get some more education from your site, you have some good stuff maybe you could visit my website and let me know what you think in my contact page. Just click on the link collector plates. Thank you and I wish you well .

December 12, 2005 at 2:29 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you for letting me post, I have come by in search of information. I was told that blogs have some of the best and most relevent information for any given subject. Mine happens to be a country style home decor gift website that has anything from jewelry to horse art. So I am looking for new products and information based on country style home decor to offer my customers and possibly some good marketing ideas for my website.
I won't steal your content but just looking for good ideas.

Websites that I have and all the work involved in keeping several of them going and updating blogs I am at best posting once a month.

I have enjoyed your blog and am thankfull to be able to sort of pick your brain without actually bothering you.

Blogs stand out because a lot of them people don't try and sale so much as to write about things that they enjoy or what they like to do.

Most of which comes out in there writing.

We want to grow and build my website to be the best and know I have much to learn, and fix to even come close.

We have been online for less then a year now, so yes we are very young.


I hope you come by to visit. I am not trying to sale you anything but would love to here if you have any ideas.

Thank you.
country style home decor

April 18, 2006 at 11:02 PM  

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