It's a freakin' INFECTION!!

What is the Experiment? It's an infection! Tonight I went to the grocery store to deposit a check at the ATM. The ATM is out of envelopes so I go to the Customer Service desk and ask the lady if they have an envelope in their office. They check and they don't so she says I can walk right down this aisle over here and buy a box of envelopes. (Who knows if the bank will even take a check in a regular white envelope, but whatever.) So I come back to buy the envelopes and I comment, It's ironic I have to spend money to be able to deposit my money in the bank. She says something along the lines of I wish I had money to deposit. And just naturally I thought and said out loud, Well, God provides everything, so just ask Him for what you need. She says, How? I said, Just like we're talking now, talk to Him. She says, Really? And I say, Yeah, I mean I had absolutely no money on November 1st, I wanted to go to New Orleans to do Katrina Relief and I prayed and asked God and He raised $1100 of the $1200 I need so far. She says, Well I really need money, I only have $12.00 in my checking account. So I say, well I will pray for you, that God will come through and provide what you need, you just make sure to look out for it and remember that it's God doing it, ok? I lean over the counter and look at her nametag. Alycia, I say, I really am going to pray for you that God will provide finances for you. So look out for it and remember what I said.

I'm sure this lady thinks I'm crazy. Gregg commented that I probably totally came out of left field for her. Which is fine, because for once in my life, I didn't feel weird at all about being honest about what God is doing. He IS providing for me. I am miraculously able to make ends meet. And I believe He will do this for those who ask Him. I know He provided for me for an entire life I had before I even knew Him. So why wouldn't he bless this woman who is in need? God, increase her $12.00. Send a chunkload of money out of the blue to her. And God, help her to know that You are real right now. Right now, you are I AM in eternity and you are I AM in this moment at 7:17 PM on Saturday December 2nd in 2006. Help her to see the money coming from You and not the person's hands that deliver it to her.

I've come to the conclusion that I've been changed. I'm NOT like this. Or I should say, I have never been like this. But God is changing me. The mission field is HERE and now. What is the Experiment? It's this infection. I went to New Orleans. I met people who were torn down and faced my own torn-down-ness. And God infected me with purpose. I already knew what God was doing in my life right here in my own town, but He loosed my lips to talk about it. He freed me to see the person standing in front of me at the grocery store as the mission. Not as a project, but as someone precious to God and no one has ever told her how to pray to Him. And He needed me to just say, Well, it's just like talking out loud to me. Just ask for what you need. He's listening.

What is the Experiment? It's an infection. And it's taking over my body.