Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Tools of The Trade


I read this email from a friend this morning and my heart was overwhelmed. How many times have I missed brushing someones hair. My mind is full of stuff and my ears are hearing nothing but sounds of a much too busy life. I do pray and I do talk to the Father God but I do long to be more do more. I long to brush someones hair.

Some think that God only live in the large places , that they need to be standing in front of the multitudes, but in fact God is big in the small places and lives are changed in the sheer simplicity of a hair brush.

As I read this article this morning, I so understand my position in the Kingdom of God. I know that due to my circumstances of caring for Mom and Dad I will not find myself sitting in airports traveling the nation and the world, but I will find myself my shopping at Wal-Mart or going down town to the market on Saturdays and Wednesdays. I will find myself at the beauty shop or the waiting rooms of Doctors offices. I will find my self standing with life all around me and I pray this morning to the Father of all life that I will fine tune my ears to hear HIS hearts cry.


It is in the one on one that nations are won to Christ, it is the obedience in the small things that touch a multitude of hearts. God just loves, that what HE does, HE just loves, and in that love that pours from HIS very being there might be days that the task at hand is large, but for the most part the tools required to do HIS will be as simple as a hair brush.
Today, let us each one LISTEN as HE moves in hearts and touches lives through us.

The will of God is simple and it ONLY flows through love...and in the story below, it is Love overwhelming in a simple hair brush.


Take time to read this and if you have already read it, read it again........


******************************************************************************

HAIRBRUSH EXPERIENCE OF BETH MOORE AT THE AIRPORT

April 20, 2005, at the Airport in Knoxville , waiting to board the plane, I had the Bible on my lap and was very intent upon what I was doing. I'd had a marvelous morning with the Lord. I say this because I want to tell you it is a scary thing to have the Spirit of God really working in you.
You could end up doing some things you never would have done otherwise.
Life in the Spirit can be dangerous for a thousand reasons, not the least of which is your ego..
I tried to keep from staring, but he was such a strange sight. Humped over in a wheelchair, he was skin and bones, dressed in clothes the at obviously fit when he was at least twenty pounds heavier. His knees protruded from his trousers, and his shoulders looked like the coat hanger was still in his shirt. His hands looked like tangled masses of veins and bones.
The strangest part of him was his hair and nails. Stringy, gray hair hung well over his shoulders and down part of his back. His fingernails were long, clean but strangely out of place on an old man.
I looked down at my Bible as fast as I could, discomfort burning my face. As I tried to imagine what his story might have been, I found myself wondering if I'd just had a Howard Hughes sighting. Then, I remembered that he was dead. So this man in the airport... an impersonator maybe? Was a camera on us somewhere? There I sat; trying to concentrate on the Word to keep from being concerned about a thin slice of humanity served up on a wheelchair only a few seats from me.
All the while, my heart was growing more and more overwhelmed with a feeling for him.
Let's admit it. Curiosity is a heap more comfortable than true concern, and suddenly I was awash with aching emotion for this bizarre-looking old man.
I had walked with God long enough to see the handwriting on the wall..
I've learned that when I begin to feel what God feels, something so contrary to my natural feelings, something dramatic is bound to happen.
And it may be embarrassing.
I immediately began to resist
because I could feel God working on my spirit and I started arguing with God in my mind. 'Oh, no, God, please, no.' I looked up at the ceiling as if I could stare straight through it into heaven and said, 'Don't make me witness to this man. Not right here and now. Please. I'll do anything. Put me on the same plane, but don't make me get up here and witness to this man in front of this gawking audience. Please, Lord!'
There I sat in the blue vinyl chair begging His Highness, 'Please don't make me witness to this man. Not now. I'll do it on the plane.' Then I heard it......'I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to brush his hair.'
The words were so clear, my heart leapt into my throat, and my thoughts spun like a top. Do I witness to the man or brush his hair? No-brainer.
I looked straight back up at the ceiling and said, 'God, as I live and breathe, I want you to know I am ready to witness to this man. I'm on this Lord. I'm your girl! You've never seen a woman witness to a man faster in your life. What difference does it make if his hair is a mess if he is not redeemed? I am going to witness to this man.'
Again, as clearly as I've ever heard an audible word, God seemed to write this statement across the wall of my mind. 'That is not what I said, Beth. I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to go brush his hair.'
I looked up at=2
0God and quipped, 'I don't have a hairbrush. It's in my suitcase on the plane... How am I supposed to brush his hair without a hairbrush?'
God was so insistent that I almost involuntarily began to walk toward him as these thoughts came to me from God's word: 'I will thoroughly furnish you unto all good works.' (2 Timothy 3:17) I stumbled over to the wheelchair thinking I could use one myself. Even as I retell this story, my pulse quickens and I feel those same butterflies. I knelt down in front of the man and asked as demurely as possible, 'Sir, may I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?'
He looked back at me and said, 'What did you say?'
'May I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?'
To which he responded in volume ten, 'Little lady, if you expect me to hear you, you're going to have to talk louder than that.'
At this point, I took a deep breath and blurted out, 'SIR, MAY I HAVE THE PLEASURE OF BRUSHING YOUR HAIR?' At which point every eye in the place darted right at me. I was the only thing in the room looking more peculiar than old Mr. Long Locks. Face crimson and forehead breaking out in a sweat, I watched him look up at me with absolute shock on his face, and say, 'If you really want to.'
Are you kidding? Of course I didn't want to. But God didn't seem interested in my personal preference right about then. He pressed on my heart until I could utter the words, 'Yes, sir, I would be pleased. But I have one little problem. I don't have a hairbrush.'
'I have one in my bag,' he responded.
I went around to the back of that wheelchair, and I got on my hands and knees and unzipped the stranger's old carry-on, hardly believing what I was doing. I stood up and started brushing the old man's hair. It was perfectly clean, but it was tangled and matted. I don't do many things well, but must admit I've had notable experience untangling knotted hair mothering two little girls. Like I'd done with either Amanda or Melissa in such a condition, I began brushing at the very bottom of the strands, remembering to take my time not to pull.
A miraculous thing happened to me as I started brushing that old man's hair.
Everybody else in the room disappeared. There was no one alive for those moments except that old man and me. I brushed and I brushed and I brushed until every tangle was out of that hair. I know this sounds so strange, but I've never felt that kind of love for another soul in my entire life. I believe with all my heart, I - for that few minutes - felt a portion of the very love of God. That He had overtaken my heart for a little while like someone renting a room and making Himself at home for a short while.
The emotions were so strong and so pure that I knew they had to be God's. His hair was finally as soft and smooth as an infant's.
I slipped
the brush back in the bag and went around the chair to face him. I got back down on my knees, put my hands on his knee and said, 'Sir, do you know my Jesus?'
He said, 'Yes, I do'
Well, that figures, I thought.
He explained, 'I've known Him since I married my bride. She wouldn't marry me until I got to know the Savior.' He said, 'You see, the problem is, I haven't seen my bride in months. I've had open-heart surgery, and she's been too ill to come see me. I was sitting here thinking to myself, what a mess I must be for my bride.'
Only God knows how often He allows us to be part of a divine moment when we're completely unaware of the significance. This, on the other hand, was one of those rare encounters when I knew God had intervened in details only He could have known. It was a God moment, and I'll never forget it.
Our time came to board, and we were not on the same plane. I was deeply ashamed of how I'd acted earlier and would have been so proud to have accompanied him on that aircraft.
I still had a few minutes, and as I gathered my things to board, the airline hostess returned from the corridor, tears streaming down her cheeks. She said, 'That old man's sitting on the plane, sobbing. Why did you do that? What made you do that?'
I said, 'Do you know Jesus? He can be the bossiest thing!'
And we got to share.
I learned something about God that day. He knows if you're exhausted, you're hungry, you're serving in the wrong place or it is time to move on but you feel too responsible to budge. He knows if you're hurting or feeling rejected. He knows if you're sick or drowning under a wave of temptation. Or He knows if you just need your hair brushed. He sees you as an individual. Tell Him your need!
I got on my own flight, sobs choking my throat, wondering how many opportunities just like that one had I missed along the way .. all because I didn't want people to think I was strange..
God didn't send me to that old man. He sent that old man to me.
Please share this wonderful story.



'Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain!'


Denise

20 comments:

Andrea said...

Denise:

I have read this before and it moves me each time. I pray we will not become too busy to see the needs of others around us, great and small!

Blessings, andrea

Karen said...

I have read this story before but my eyes always fill...the simple things can mean so much...when we do them for others...and when someone or Someone responds to a simple need of our own...

I needed to be reminded of this today...thank you!

Donetta said...

:) oh ya!!!

Shirley said...

Thank you,Denise, for sharing that story...I have never heard it before. Oh, how I would love to be found worthy enough to be used of God like that.

Hugs.

Love Bears All Things said...

I heard her tell this in one of her Bible studys but it was good to hear it again. I know there have been opportunities that I have failed to act and later had to beg my Father's forgiveness for. "Even when you did it to the least of these, you did it unto me." It is in the small things. We can all serve God in our way. I said this about my Mother, Blessed are those who sit and wait. She prayed silently. I only heard her pray out loud one time. She took food to the grieved and the sick. She drove people to the doctor, grocery store and she shopped for those who were so blind that they could not shop for themselves. She didn't teach or speak but she was a mighty warrior for God in her own way. I know she touched many lives. She was such an example of Christian love for me. I just hope I am a little like her.
God has a place for all of us and right now you are doing what you are supposed to be doing.
I love you,
Mama Bear

LisaShaw said...

I have read this before and I so appreciate the opportunity to read it again and to read your initial thoughts above.

Love you.

Diane said...

This is such an inspiring story, Denise. I think of the times that maybe Jesus was asking me to do something and I was too busy, embarassed whatever. This is a good reminder of what we're really here for.

Denise said...

So very awe inspiring my friend.

Fitter After 50 said...

Honestly! Between you and Leslie (Do You Weary Like I Do)...You can't be posting things like this without warning us we'll need some Kleenex. A very beautiful post my friend. I wonder if after reading this, you'll probably be experiencing more of these feelings as you continue to care for your parents.

Joyce said...

I love it when GOD asks us to do the goofiest things. But it makes me SWEAT when I am doing it. Ugh....HA! I mean really it does. HA!

I loved this though...and have heard it before.

GIRL....we will be going to David Wilkerson's church when we are in NYC....we've gone before but I checked the service schedule for when we are there and I think we can attend like THREE times....HA!
We only went once last time and CRIED the entire service because it's soooo powerful of an annointing in that place.

I'm so excited to go.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement. I hate rejection but....."into every life a little rain must fall.

And I've learned......"what doesn't kill us....makes us stronger."
Sad but true.
Hang in there you.......talk to you soooon.
Be blessed,
Joyce

elaine @ peace for the journey said...

I've always loved this story; it actually crossed my mind yesterday after my experience with Gail. How I wish I'd had a brush to offer her.

Thanks for your encouraging words today; may we all be found willing to bend to the needs of others, regardless of how they present themselves.

peace~elaine

LOVE, MERCY AND GRACE...GOD'S GRACE said...

I too have read this before and it still stirs the soul!!

~Beth

Alleluiabelle said...

Dear Denise,

This story is absolutely beautiful. I had never heard it before and I felt like I was there with her, hand on top of hers brushing tenderly with each stroke. This touched me to the very core of my being. I've had experiences similar to this God experience and have acted on them. When God commands, in my heart out of obedience, I do not hold back because I can't. The feeling takes over and I have to act on it without even thinking about it. He is an awesome God. A lot of my experiences have occurred while in the hospital, doctor's office, nursing home visiting and then the opportunity comes...and it is absolutely all led by Him. Oh how I so love the Lord.

Thank you for sharing this with me tonight. It brought back those special times that I have experienced as well.

God bless you sweet sister,
Alleluiabelle

Joyce said...

All I can say is Amen and Amen. I have not had the pleasure to reading this story before. WOW, what a meaning. I know that I have to continue doing what God wants, even if it means brushing someones hair.

Love and Hugs,
Joyce

Cora from Hidden Riches said...

Well . . . . my day has been changed, and I hope my life is changed, too, because of this. I'll never look at a hairbrush the same again! In fact, I think I'll carry one with me wherever I go just as a reminder of what the Lord expects of me! Thank you for that!

Maxine said...

Oh my. Now that is just amazing. To do something like she did is one of the greatest honors we can do for Jesus. Your opening thoughts in this post are priceless. The things that really matter in this life. . .

Mary said...

Densie,

I was getting ready for bed and had the urge to check my blog. There was your message and it was my pleasure to chat with you tonight. Then God sent me here to read this. I love dancing in the rain. It brings us such joy and thank you my friend for being my teacher.

Blessings,
Mary

Mary Isabella and Kiley too! said...

I so loved this post. Your words were so moving...blessings...m.

Dena said...

Hi Denise,

Thank you so much for sharing this, it touched my heart and served as a reminder not to question the will of the Almighty. There is no greater honor than serving. Thank you for visiting my Word Pies blog and for your sweet words.

Hugs,
Dena

Tea with Tiffany said...

I've read this before. There's nothing like walking in the Spirit and being ever so aware of those around us. Lord, help us see and respond to the needs of those around us.

Thanks for sharing.

Enjoy your week!