You just never know...

I have been brought to a very humbling place this week. I have had one of those moments in life that changes the way you look at life and God and how He works. As most everyone knows, we have just moved to Louisiana in the last month. We have been reunited with lots of our friends and people we have lost touch with and it's just been great getting to know each other all over again. Well, this past Wednesday, we were packed and ready to leave early Thursday morning to go to the 95th Annual Louisiana District Campmeeting services in Tioga, Louisiana. Then our plans were changed when we got news that my in-laws neighbor wanted to be baptized Thursday evening.

It's so funny how things work out. When my husband and I were first married I worked with Mrs. Andrews as an aide on a handicapped bus. I loved working with her and the kids but quit when we moved to Texas. Through the years we have seen Mrs. Andrews when we would come for a visit. We'd walk across the road and chat and show off our little boy. We got the call Tuesday that she was very ill and that the cancer had come back and things just didn't look good for her. She wanted to be baptized in Jesus name, and of course we were honored to be there and be able to baptize her.

When we arrived at her house at 6p.m. she was very weak, could barely talk and had to be lifted into the pool. She was so weak that her husband had to hold her nose while Anthony baptized her. The moment she was baptized, there was just a happy and fresh look on her face and she began talking to us and telling us how clean and great she felt. It was just amazing the difference in her and how alert she became. After she had changed clothes and was back inside she prayed and received the precious spirit of God. We left afterwards and headed to the campmeeting, only to receive the phone call that she had passed away at 1am that next morning. I cannot tell you the feeling that overcame my husband and I both as we took in this news. It was overwhelming to think that just seven hours earlier we had paused our little plans and allowed God to interrupt our agenda long enough to make a difference in eternity. Oh, that we would never be too busy for God to interrupt our plans! For one can rest assured that when He interrupts our plans...it will be worth it.

The amazing part of this whole story is that her husband has never believe in truth or thought that anything such as baptism mattered. At the funeral home Sunday afternoon, he told my father-n-law that if he had not been so concerned about his wife and her strength and health that evening, he would have just leaned back and let my husband baptize him! So, we just never know what God is doing. His ways are not our ways...that's for sure! But right in the midst of one of the saddest times of life, God is doing a work on a man that my in laws have witnessed to and worked on for 32 years. I'm looking forward to the day we baptize Mr. Andrews too.

So, please keep the Andrews family in your prayers. The funeral will be Monday morning and they will need much prayers and strength then and in the days ahead. And, Mrs. Andrews...we'll see you in the sweet by and by!