Ministering Ladies

A few months ago, we went to Canada to visit with some good friends of ours who pastor a church just outside of Toronto, in the thriving, growing city of Newmarket.
 
That Saturday I had the honor of speaking at their Ladies Tea. The church was beautifully decorated and the ladies were so sweet. Every place setting included a unique fine china teacup, and on each table were plates and trays of goodies, including special tea sandwiches on homemade bread, baked by Sis. Kerr, a retired pastor's wife from the Ontario District.

I spoke on the Proverbs 31 woman. What was so important about the woman in Proverbs 31 was her relationship with God, her priorities, her character, her attitude. The word "virtuous" used in verse 10 actually translates to mean "a woman of strength." It was a God-given strength, for we know that His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Then we talked about how we might press towards being this "woman of strength," this virtuous woman, by adding to our faith virtue (2 Peter 1:5-8). It was a great afternoon.
 
Pierre preached in Newmarket Sunday morning and evening. Sunday evening, God prompted him to share his personal testimony, and so he did. What a wonderful presence of God rested upon the altar service! Amidst and among so many new saints God moved in a beautiful way. One very sweet lady from the Philippines had been praying for the Holy Ghost for some time, and we believe that God filled her that night. She was so excited to experience God's presence in such a powerful way.
 
We spent those first couple days in Canada speaking, but it was over the next couple of days that God spoke to me.
 
Pierre had some business to attend to in London, so Gentry and I kept ourselves busy taking long walks to the Covent Garden Market as well as riding a bus to the London Children's Museum.

Etched in my mind, though, is our trip through the downtown YMCA, which was only about a block from our hotel. They have an enclosed bridge that passes over two pool areas and leads to the main lobby. Gentry loves water and swimming, as most children do, so he insisted that we pause and watch all the activity. To our left was a pool area where an aqua exercise class was in process. It's what was going on the right side that struck me.

First, I remember noticing a young woman swimming with a board of some kind strapped to her legs. Was it to strengthen her arms for a competition coming up, or did she just get better exercise swimming like that? Then I noticed a man swimming-- he had only one leg.

I began to get a little more interested in what I was seeing and looked more closely into the pool. Several people, with various physical challenges, were swimming in the pool, and they were doing quite well at it, too. To the far left of the pool I saw some wheelchairs and other items. That's when I saw HER.

Determined, strong, persistent... this middle-age woman might have been splashing more water and exerting more effort than the others, but she was swimming beautifully considering the challenges she had to overcome: she had only nubs for both arms AND legs.

I would not have been able to really believe it if I hadn't seen it.

Somehow, I think I needed to see this brave woman swimming. My heart was pricked as I thought of all the times I thought something was too hard or even impossible for me to do. How many times had I shirked away from exercising, making healthy food choices, learning something new, or teaching a Bible study?

It's so easy for us to come up with excuses for our weaknesses rather than trust God to give us strength, isn't it?

Just that Saturday, at the tea, Joycelyn had closed our meeting with this beautiful and anointed old song:

His strength really is perfect. Sometimes the hardest part, though, is admitting our weakness and that we need Him to carry us, don't you think?