A Silly Sheep’s Whispered Prayer

A wet swimsuit tossed on top of the wall-mounted gas heater in the bathroom set things in motion.

The white wallpaper with dainty pink rosebuds and tiny green leaves wicked up the moisture creating a dull, damp, and noticeable swooping arch of gray. With more urgent tasks to accomplish in our old but new to us home, removing the wallpaper was not a priority.

Now it took center stage.

Most renovation projects seem easy until they morph into something we never imagined. Removing the ancient, well-secured wallpaper became a laborious task. Instead of peeling off generous swaths of paper, my raw fingers picked at the patterned paper yielding only a couple of tiny rose buds and dinky leaves.

That morning my husband came home with a cassette tape from a man at our church—a recording of his wife’s memorial service. Relegated to the bathroom, I jumped at the chance to listen to anything that would help pass the time. In the 90s, media options were not at our fingertips like today. 

I found the cassette player, plugged it in, popped in the cassette, then pushed play. And that is how I met Marchetta. 

The testimony of this woman’s life, her influence, and her love for God and others amazed me.

When the tape clicked off at the end, I rewound it and listened again—then a third time. 

I had never heard such a glorious synopsis of a woman’s life. She lived with purpose, influencing lives with her love of Christ. The impact of her life reached far and wide, to other countries and nations. Many deeply loved Marchettan and more than one woman considered her their best friend. Her life had substance and meaning. She loved God and had lived her life for Him.

“I want to be a woman like that.”

A Whispered Prayer

I cannot recall anything more than that thought (prayer)—the desire to have a life like this incredible woman I met through a recording of her memorial service. A woman I would only know through the testimonies of others. One I would continue to learn about as I met ladies, and continue to encounter women, who knew and loved Marchetta Strader.

Shortly before her death, I saw her with her husband at our local hardware store. My husband pointed her out to me, but we never spoke. 

I heard a pastor say, “Take your fist, submerge it into a bucket of water then remove it—that is about as much influence as you have—the amount of visible space left by your fist in the water.”

While I am confident the analogy held strong for whatever point he was making, in the case of Marchetta, not so. Her faithfulness, like others with burning hearts, warms everything around them. Their sparkling reflections shimmer effervescent-like as they gaze steadily upon the One who is Life and Love. Energized and infused by God’s Spirit, they receive from His fullness and then quietly overflow, unknowingly blessing those they encounter. Even after death–their lively influence remains. Their lives poured out to others live on in and through them.

The recording of Marchetta’s life had me soberly examining my own.

My life looked nothing like hers. Instead of an organic, life-giving flow like Marchetta’s, my life seemed more like the unrelenting wallpaper—stained and stubbornly stuck in place. But God had a plan. He always has a plan.

Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

Give thanks in all circumstances. Even when a wet swimsuit is haphazardly chucked next to thirsty wallpaper? Yep.

Being sequestered by the task of wrestling tenacious wallpaper, I had plenty of time to hear what a faithful servant looked like. Without the swimsuit incident, I would have probably set the cassette aside, hurried on with another task, and never listened. 

As a new arrival to the Christian scene, hearing how this Jesus-lover ran her race compelled me to cry out to God. Our lives were vastly different, but I wanted what she had—an intimate relationship with the Maker of heaven and earth. Her meaningful life lived to the glory of God, was rich in purpose, steeped in the beauty of Love Himself, and wildly attractive. 

The testimony of this precious sister’s life upended my own—and for that I give thanks.

Whispering or Wailing—Just Pray

“If prayer stands as the place where God and human beings meet, then I must learn about prayer. Most of my struggles in the Christian life circle around the same two themes: why God doesn’t act the way we want God to, and why I don’t act the way God wants me to. Prayer is the precise point where those themes converge.” Philip Yancey

“As a lump of clay when grasped by the human hand remains clay but cannot escape the imprint of the hand, so the truth of God, when grasped by the human mind remains truth but bears upon it the image of the mind that grasps it. Truth cannot enter a passive mind. It must be received into the mind by an active mental response, and the act of receiving it tends to alter it to a greater or less degree.” Oswald Chambers

The poem the pastor referred to is The Indispensable Man which you can read here.