Happy weekend friends and family.

This post is just a small story.

Some may recall a post that I wrote back in January of last year called Mustard (Mustard Post). In it I tell the story of a waitress, Ms V, at our local Waffle House on 441 in Watkinsville, when she gave me an appropriate and much needed Bible verse. Well, Owen and I ate breakfast there again this morning, and she did it again.

Owen and I sat at the bar and were served by another sweet waitress, Ms Lynda, but Ms V was helping the gentleman to my right and we spoke a little as she worked. It was a busy morning, with 9 employees shuffling around behind the counter, making waffles, queuing up orders, and the usual “scattered, smothered, and covered” shouts. When the man next to me got up to leave, Ms V, unprompted, gave him a verse as she handed him his large, sweet tea to go. I couldn’t make out the verse, though, sorry, but as Owen and I left, I entreated her from some Biblical inspiration, too. She paused for a moment, and then said, Isaiah 43:19. I thanked her and left.

When I got into my car, I looked up the verse. It reads (from the NLT):

For I am about to do something new.
See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
I will make a pathway through the wilderness.
I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

I thought the verse was very sweet and wondered how she comes up with them. Is it random? Or do they just come to her when she looks at someone? Does she even know what the verse is when she gives the reference?

When I returned home, I recounted the story to Kim. I read the verse. And she reacted a little more surprised than me. She gasped, really.

“Did you tell her you were about to start a new treatment?”

“No, she just spouted this verse.”

“Amazing. She’s like a prophet.”

I guess it hit me then, softly. I’m beginning something new soon. I need a pathway through the wilderness of this d@#n disease. We all do in our own struggles, of course, and we may not always see them, but it’s an encouraging reminder that our God is effectuating new opportunities before we even wish for them. It’s not like God snapped his fingers and the trial became available. Everything happens according to sovereign timing. That’s my experience anyway.

I suspect it works the same for our souls, too; his work in us precedes our desire for change. And that’s a really good thing.

Thanks again, Ms V.  You’ve given me a “good word” to remember as I wait for treatment to begin after Thanksgiving.

BTW, that’s not my waffle in the image, but Owen and I did split a delicious half chocolate chip / half pecan waffle this morning. Yum.

Blessings all.

Brent