No Longer Naked

Have you ever had one of those days that left an imprint on your soul as though God, Himself, was the author? One day, I was traveling back from an event where I was appearing before 20,000 people hungry for success. After my performance, I was rushed straight from the stage to a limo and directly to the airport to catch the last flight out. Fortunately I only had a carry-on so the check in process would be easy.

I barely made my flight. As I sat in my seat I thought, boy would it have been nice to change out of these stage clothes and into my comfortable sweat suit in my bag. My plan was to get to Chicago where I would have an hour layover and change in the bathroom. When I landed in Chicago I went directly to my connecting gate to check in. That is when it happened:

Out of nowhere, I heard screaming. I turned and saw a naked woman (and I mean she was TOTALLY naked) running down the terminal screaming, "Oh God, help me! Oh God, help me!" People were moving out of the way and acting like she was strapped in a bomb. Their faces of horror and shame were obvious. She just kept running down the terminal getting closer and closer till all of a sudden she dropped on her knees ten feet in front of me. She threw her hands in the air as if to surrender and cried out, "Oh God, help me!"

Without a moment's hesitation, I grabbed her in my arms and covered her body with mine. At that very second, a miraculous thing happened. As I held her in my arms, everybody else in the airport terminal seemed to disappear. It was as though we were alone. I whispered in her ear, "It's ok. God loves you and has allowed me to be her so I can help you."

What? What was I saying? I suddenly realized the reality of the situation. I had just pounced on a naked woman in an airport with hundreds of onlookers. And now I am holding her in my arms. If the cops showed up, I would surely be in trouble. Dressed in a rhinestone St. John suit and four inch heals, I probably looked a bit crazy myself.

I continued to hold her in my arms as we walked to the bathroom. A young boy along the way threw me his shirt to put over her body. All other onlookers just gawked and whispered.

Once in the bathroom, she began to weep in my arms like a baby. She cried, "I am a bad woman. I have sinned." As she continued to be for forgiveness, I began to share with her the magnitude of God's love. She assured me she was too big of a sinner to deserve access to God's mercy. I explained the depth of God's love and told her that it was not by accident that she fell at my feet instead of a security officer. She didn't know it but she had run naked into the arms of God (or at least one of His vessels here on earth). Not that I was God, but that He had used my voice, my arms and my body to cover her and give her a message of love, hope and forgiveness that day.

As you can imagine, I was thinking to myself, "So exactly what happened to her clothes? " Last I checked, those security guards don't let you into an airport naked.

She explained that she was grieving the loss of multiple deaths in her family within a two week period and she was on the flight headed to her daughter's wedding. Doctor's had her on anti-depressants which she had mixed with alcohol and other drugs. Needless to say, her drug reaction, partnered with a nervous breakdown sent her over the edge.

Shame filled her mind as she suddenly realized what she had just done. She had stripped off her clothes, stuffed them down a toilet, threw her shoes in a trash can and dumped her purse in another toilet. She then proceeded to run naked down the airport in front of her husband and children, not to mention thousands of onlookers.

Bad day? You betcha! The interesting thing to me was that, during the process of her trauma, not one person stopped to help her. Not one of the more than 10 ladies in the bathroom that watched her strip said a word. They didn't reach out to help, they didn't even call the police. They just gawked in judgment and fear.

That day, I learned a lot about myself, about God's forgiveness and about human nature.

1. About myself: Personally, I realized that God allowed her to drop at my feet because He knew I would be willing and unafraid to reach out to her and give her help, hope and healing. By counseling her and setting her up with the proper professional help in her city, that woman went on to experience restoration, mental healing and spiritual guidance. It was a joy to know that I could be used by God to be His hands, voice and arms that day. You see, God is not looking for perfect vessels. He's just looking for willing vessels who will allow Him to use their life to reach out to others.

2. About God's Forgiveness: I learned that God is such a loving God that He will do anything to get our attention and have us fall on our knees for forgiveness. God watched as that woman took those drugs and drank the alcohol. He knew of her pain and sympathized with her sorrow. He also devised a plan for her salvation and healing. He loved her so much that although it took complete breakdown, He got her attention. He walked her right into a plan for her complete restoration, peace and healing.

3. About Human Nature: I learned that many people would rather gossip than help, murmur than aid and complain instead of comply with God's wishes to be a vessel of hope to those in need. As I considered how many people chose NOT to help, I humbly thanked God for giving me the courage that day to be different. As humans, it is easy to be apathetic in nature towards those in need. Lord, let us deny our flesh and be more like you!

When I finally made my way back to the gate for my departure, over 100 people stared at me till a man finally said, "Wow! That was incredible! Does that happen to you often? What possessed you to help her like that? I she crazy or what?"

Knowing it was, yet, another opportunity to share God's love, I simply said, " "Let's face it, we've all had bad days where we, too, felt like stripping naked, screaming out to God for help. The only difference is she had the guts to follow through with it!."

They laughed and we boarded our plane. I truly believe with all my heart that, for a few moments in time, God allowed me to feel His unconditional love pour from my heart and into that woman. Somehow, His heart had overtaken mine as though he took residence there for a short while in a tangible way.

Every day, I am honored to have the privilege of teaming up with God to make a difference in women's lives around the world. As a member of EMwomen, you, too join in that partnership. Together, as we continue to look for ways to inspire others, we are making a differece. We are clothing the naked, feeding the poor and inspiring the women of this nation. Giving hope to a world that lives in desperation, we are the voice of a new generation!

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GRATITUDE = LATITUDE

I try to make it a point each day to give "thanks" for the many joys and blessings in my life. It seems the more I express gratitude, the better I feel, the more blessings come my way, and the more apt I am to be a source of hope to others.

So, let me share today's gratitude with you. This past week, my husband, children and I took off a few days to go to Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO. We were celebrating my son's birthday and my parents were meeting us there. We had such a wonderful time, and our hearts were thankful to have the time together. As we journeyed along our way, we were hit by one blessing after another. First, when we arrived, there were presents awaiting us in our condo. It seems my parents confused my son's birthday with CHRISTMAS. There were presents for everyone! And if that wasn't exciting enough, the last present was for my husband, which read:

"Congratulations. This certificate pays for your stay in Branson." Yippeeee! This was shaping up to be a super-duper trip. We were prepared to have fun, but to have fun for FREE is what I call a REAL good time!

On day two, we all went to Dinosaur Mountain to play miniature golf. The blessings just got better. My son and mother each got a hole in one on the only hole that awards you a FREE game. The blessings kept rolling.

Day three, we went to Silver Dollar City and had such a wonderful time. The blessing of the day was definitely the beautiful weather, laughs, relaxation, and my husband's "big find"......Succotash. He ate so much succotash that the workers came to know him as the "succotash man". He liked it so much that we decided to ask for the recipe so I could "de-fat" the ingredients and try to make it fit the qualifications for EMcafe Recipe (Under 10 grams of fat). Look for it as one of this month's EMcafe recipes. It is emmmmmmlicious!

Day four kept getting better. I received a phone call from the sister of a lady I had prayed for in ICU who had a brain anurism. The doctors didn't know if she would make it and the sadness of the family was evident. She was the mother of four young children. I was honored when they called me in to pray and sing to her. At that time, she was being kept alive by machines. But while singing to her, she opened her eyes the entire time I sang. The exciting news that came during our trip to Silver Dollar City was that, after one and a half months of being in ICU, she was up talking, and out of the woods of danger. They proceeded to tell me that she was feeling great and had asked to see me. They told us that she didn't remember much of anything during her coma, but she vividly remembers me singing to her and the peace she felt.

If that isn't enough for anyone to say "Thank You, God", it gets even better. That same day, we received the call from my husband's mother who has been battling Leukemia. She gave us the wonderful news that the leukemia had gone into remission.

I could go on with this gratitude list of just the past few days, but let me sum it all up to say this:
Gratitude is fertilizer for miracles to grow. The more gratitude you plant, the more blessings will grow.

What are you grateful for? Send me a comment and tell me why you are grateful. Let your gratitude become the latitude to your next level of increase!

Have a great week!