Right in the middle of my first week in Nineveh, a toothache and a birthday happened and I wasn’t looking forward to what either brought… until the Ninevites and my husband surprised me.
Robbe was tired of seeing me wince in pain and noticed that no amount of Alleve or Orajel was doing what it needed to do. He made a dentist appointment for me, the day before my birthday. I had hoped to go out to celebrate since we were apart for my birthday last year; him in Michigan and me with my family in California. He said that my health was more important and we could celebrate later. I acted like a spoiled brat and pouted to no avail. The dentist appointment that was made….was kept.
I’m not afraid of dentists; quite the contrary. I like going to the dentist and pride myself in a smile that shows my personality… a goofball of sorts. But I was in pain and didn’t want to hear what they may have said…pull a tooth that would put my birthday celebration on hold. I didn’t want to celebrate later, I wanted to celebrate the next day and a pulled tooth would have squashed that idea. Robbe did everything; he made the appointment, he took off work and drove me there, he even filled out the paperwork that they require for new patients. I was scared but I was so moved at just how important this appointment was for my husband that I couldn’t be mad at him anymore.
My name was called and as I walked back to the chair; a plaque was hanged just under a mirror in the hallway. It read: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
Paul? In my dentist’s office? Wow. Aside from the waiting room being decorated just as I would have liked, and the people welcoming me as if I had been there before…this plaque sealed the deal that Robbe picking a dentist just based on its proximity to home… got lucky. Or did he? I am confident that Jesus even had a hand in the selection of our dentists. It should come as no secret that afterwards, Robbe read their biographies and both dentists in the office are best friends and attend the same church that he has been going to for the past five months.
“Dr. Jeremy Chad Hopkins grew up in the Tulsa area. He attended high school in Mannford, OK. After graduating high school, Jeremy attended Tulsa Community College for two years before ultimately attending the University of Oklahoma for the remainder of his undergraduate education. In 1997 Jeremy received his Doctorate of Dental Surgery from the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry. Since then he has practiced dentistry in the State of Oklahoma. Jeremy has been married to his wife Rene’ for 13 years. They reside in Owasso, Oklahoma with their three children Roman, Reece and Ella Hopkins who attend Lincoln Christian School. When not practicing dentistry, Jeremy enjoys spending time with his family, attending Church on the Move, cheering for the Sooners, camping and fishing. Dr. Hopkins and his best friend Dr. Bybee opened Modern Day Dental in 2005 with a commitment to excellence and Godly character. It has been a great pleasure for Jeremy to serve the dental needs of the Owasso community.”
I am soooo grateful that Jesus never says “I told you so” because there have been so many opportunities for JUST that.
The x-rays were taken and it was decided that my upper wisdom tooth on the right, was to be pulled BUT only after a week of antibiotics and painkillers. Woohoo…. Birthday night out was still intact; I did what my husband AND Jesus wanted me to do and I STILL get what I wanted…to celebrate my birthday with the Ninevites.
I have a favorite black cocktail dress that I haven’t worn since June of 2009; and one I happen to know that Robbe loves too. So, even though we had no definite plans of where we were going for dinner and found a local pub to go to for karaoke… I thought it was the perfect dress to wear out BUT it needed a little touch of my personality and a bit of Nineveh.
Robbe came home from work with a bouquet of my favorite wildflowers and an awesome card. I think he liked what he saw when he noticed our favorite black dress with a little bit of kick. I paired my black cocktail dress with my tiffany blue and brown cowboy boots, a denim jacket with my bling cross on the back, the big blingy cross necklace that Robbe bought me for my birthday last year; along with a double strand necklace with more bling, and more bling in a flower headband that I wore in my hair (which Alyssa just happens to have also….go figure). It was fun and I felt awesome in it; ready to party with the Ninevites in their local surroundings.
We went to Olive Garden for dinner and then went to the pub. The parking lot was full and the welcome was awesome. No one seemed to mind that we hadn’t been there before. Before even taking a seat, two women at the bar stopped chatting with each other and complimented my headband, loved my boots, and even thought “I smelled real pretty.” Their accents were thick and their drawls were thicker. They were the most genuine I had met so far in Nineveh and they shared their names; Rhonda and Kathy, said they were best friends, and wished me a Happy Birthday. We played pool and we signed up for karaoke. After chatting a bit more, I learned that Kathy’s birthday was the next day. Soooo….. we went to our storage unit which just happened to be two miles away, I found my clear container that had my silly hats in it and brought it back to the pub where our friendly Ninevites had NO idea what was about to happen.
Only my favorite hats made the trip. Most were given away or donated. But, my black top hat with bunny ears, the green top hat with many pink buttons sewn to it, the pink furry top hat, my spring filled Santa hat, and the pink crown that said “Drama Queen” were brought inside. I left them at the bar and loved the reactions as the hats were passed around for people to wear. They were just like us after all. These Ninevites with the strong accents and slow drawls were just as excited to pretend to be someone else as I was when I dressed up for our night out. We were home by 11pm, which may be early for some but was perfect for us. It was a great date and a great birthday; and just what I needed to remind me that even Nineveh can offer great moments if I am open to them and invite them in….easier said than done but something I am most definitely willing to try.
Robbe and I had heated conversations the next day about where to go to church. He was adamant about wanting to go the church he had been attending alone for the last five months, I wanted to try a new church up the road from where we live. I made phone calls to Robbe’s church before even moving here. They didn’t offer bible studies or small groups, or any way to get connected with others on a regular basis…aside from Sunday. The church that I found and wanted to attend had all of the above.
I wasn’t being fair. There was something in the church Robbe had been attending while he lived here. I asked him what it was about “his” church that was the reason he wanted me to attend despite not having the extras I was looking for. He had no answer. He just said he knew it was somewhere I would like and it felt like the church for us. That should have been enough for me but I was as stubborn as he was adamant. I agreed to go but in all honesty, I was just giving him lip service…like when someone is listening to you talk but you can tell they aren’t hearing you…just waiting for their turn to speak. I had no intention of liking the church he wanted; already having my sights on another. I remembered Lynette. She went through a similar dilemma last year where she didn’t pray for an answer to her situation but prayed to Jesus to open her heart. I did just that. I prayed to Jesus to open my heart to liking the church Robbe had picked out BUT… even as I prayed to open my heart, I didn’t want one. I just wanted to go to this church on the way to the one I wanted.
I walked into the sanctuary, making comparisons to Northridge Church, my church in Michigan. They were starting a new series called “My church is kind of a big deal” and many people wore t-shirts that said as much. I couldn’t help thinking to myself that “MY” church was a bigger deal and I missed it more just walking into another sanctuary. We sat in row 5, seats 9 and 10…just like home. I wanted to get there early to talk with people nearby and find out how they network with others if there aren’t bible studies or small groups but I said nothing. I prayed for an open heart but I didn’t really want one. When worship began…they sang songs I had never heard but it didn’t matter. That prayer of an open heart was answered anyway…and there were lines in each song that I knew were just for me.
That Dang Jesus….
I prayed for an open heart because it was something I knew Lynnette did but it was only when He opened my heart and I did something I didn’t want to do that I remembered….the same thing happened to Lynnette. She prayed for an open heart in hopes that He would tell her to do what she wanted and instead, He opened her heart and she did what would have been her second choice.
That Dang Jesus….
Despite not hearing these songs before and not being one to even sing the songs, I cried. There were lines that said “I will get through this season…my eyes focused on you.” UGH…. Or “Forgive me where I am and give me strength to get where you want me.” Holy Moly….
It gets even better when the guest speaker gets up and talks about JUST being new; new to the church, new to the area, new to Christ. He said that he knows what it’s like and gave the perfect analogy. “It’s like trying to jump on a train that is going 60MPH and then if you are lucky enough to get on…. You get on the train and realize that everyone there knows everyone and appears to be just like each other and you STILL don’t have any idea what you are doing there.” YES…. THAT is exactly how I felt as I sat in my usual church seat in a very unusual place…in Nineveh.
Then… he said that if you are looking for a way to get connected with those in the church there will be a meeting coming up for JUST that called Next Steps Gathering that will be happening on September 11th; ways to get involved in church, meet others from the church you may have in common with, and how to volunteer and be a part of something greater than yourself. Everything I was looking for and sure that this church didn’t have….until now.
My weekend with the Ninevites was exactly what Jesus thought I needed…and He was right. He not only opened my heart but He changed it. He helped me to see that they aren’t the ones that are different….but it is me that is different. The reason for all of this change is simply because I got to comfortable where I was and Jesus thought things needed to be mixed up.
My faith has been wavering lately; based solely on fear of the unknown. Whether it was the dentist, karaoke, or church…Jesus showed me that I can do everything for Him that I was already doing, but He wanted me to do it here. When I had doubts of faith and following before, I turned to Paul and that is what I find myself doing now.
Not long ago, Robbe bought be a 90 Day bible study by Beth Moore aptly titled “Paul: 90 Days on His Journey of Faith.” It is amazing to look at with burnished pages and just too pretty to write in; so I haven’t. But now I feel it is just the time to join Paul on his journey of faith since I could use a bit of my own.
It is a big commitment but one I am driven to make. I am not only committed to taking this journey with my bible crush for the next 90 days but I am compelled to write about it daily on my blog. I am doing so in hopes that this battle between faith and fear of the unknown that I am going through now, will help someone else AND because I feel that writing and sharing in my blog for each of the 90 days will keep me accountable to maintain that goal.
So, beginning tomorrow…please join me as I begin a new journey in Nineveh with my crush to get me through; as he has done many times in the past.
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Philippians 3:12
So proud again! I will be back tomorrow to see the new study!
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