Surprised by hope

The first thing you notice about S. is that her long, straggly hair isn't washed and you assume that she doesn't really care about what she looks like. But it is S. who is the first person to come to the photo booth at our church family gathering and she says,' Take a photo of me - I want to be beautiful'. When I give her the photo a few weeks later she is disappointed, 'Oh, I am not as beautiful as I thought I would be'. 

S. has been sad since her boyfriend died.  He was in hospital for quite a long time and she just assumed that he would get better and come home - but he didn't. She was the first to arrive last Sunday when we celebrated Harvest in our church and she said, as she always says these days, 'I miss my boyfriend - he died.  I really miss him'.  After the Harvest Celebration we shared a buffet lunch and I invited her to join the queue.  She just looked at me with sad eyes and I wanted to do something to help her but I just said, 'Whenever you want to - just help yourself to some food.'  

So, I was surprised on Tuesday when S. asked me for a Bible.  She didn't really say why she wanted one, just that it was a long time since she had read one. I had a look in our box of Bibles and found a secondhand Good News Bible.  It wasn't as smart as I would have liked it to be but I felt I needed to give her a Bible now rather than ask her to wait for me to find time to buy her a new one.  She almost smiled when I gave it to her.    I suggested she begin reading Mark's gospel but before I could say, 'gospel', she said, 'I like the Psalms'.  So, I found the Psalms for her and something seemed to light up around her.  I moved on and left her with her new found treasure because a treasure it is. Our church isn't open every day and I cannot be with S. every day but when she opens her Bible she will find hope and a new beginning.  

God always surprises me.  In our Harvest Celebration I had heard the words, 'The fields are ripe and ready for Harvest' and I had said, 'Where, Lord? Where can I go and find this harvest that I long to see?'   Then on Tuesday S. asked for a Bible and God said, 'It's here.  The harvest you are looking for is right here'.