Using the voice you have been given….

Yesterday I felt I was in the presence of angels…but I know I was just in the company of saints.

I stopped at the post office to mail a couple of packages to our farther away children, and the timing was divine.

Two men were ahead of me going up the stairs. The one directly in front of me opened the door wide, and with an even wider smile said, “After you ma’am!” I thanked him and he responded cheerily, “Chivalry is not dead!”

I smiled and said, “Amen!” To which the man directly in front of me spun his head  around and gave me a broad smile as well.

We all proceeded to the counter, where each carried on polite conversation with me sandwiched in between. The line moved quickly and I realized that the gallant man had actually been ahead of me so I remembered my own manners and offered him to go ahead of me. He thanked me and even expressed gratitude for my thoughtfulness, but no…he wasn’t in a hurry so he deferred to me.

As I stepped up to the counter, a third man joined the line. He obviously knew both of these men and the postal employee processing my packages. From their conversation, it was clear they shared a close association as they cheerfully greeted one another and checked on how things were going.

And then…a moment ordained by God. The newest arrival spoke out in the clearest voice, deep and rich, and truly anointed to the point that I had Jesus bumps on my arms. I wish I could repeat verbatim the words of blessing he spoke over us. It was rich with familiar passages of Scripture and near the end he made reference to “all who are under the hearing of my voice be blessed in the name of the Lord our God today.”

Oh…this was good…I knew that God was leaning forward from His throne, anxious to answer this man’s blessing as it resonated through the high marble ceilings of our beautiful old post office. His brothers around me all murmured amen, and even the guy behind the counter raised his hand in silent praise.

And there on the counter laid packages going to St Louis and Tulsa. I wasn’t going to miss a drop of this blessing from God….so I stretched my hands out over those paper covered gifts and I looked back at him and said, “And over the recipients of these packages…..”

With the kindest eyes and the widest smile, I was rewarded with an affirming, “AMEN!”

You know…my whole day was different because of this encounter. Because someone who loves the Lord and has immersed himself in the Word spoke out God’s blessing in the voice he has been given.

Let me tell you…that isn’t my voice.  That would not work for me to do exactly the same kind of thing…but I have a voice to speak of His goodness and love and mercy and blessings.

And so do you.

We have platforms and places, we have opportunities and appointments.

Let’s not miss a moment to share, in the voice and place we have been given.

To encourage the saints, to call the lost, to offer hope in a dark and weary world.

God bless you, dearest ones, today…in the name of the Lord our God!