To end our beautiful, sunny days here at Hilton Head, we have an evening “yellow chair session” which consists of worship, sharing God moments from the day and a short teaching. Although the whole sessions are great, my favorite part is listening to the kids’ stories from the day. We wanted to hear where and how they had seen God at work in their life or the lives of those around them. Last night was pretty incredible, as several of the youth shared different pieces of a meeting a sweet old lady, Ms. Edith, at Bloom (an Alzheimer’s care center).
One of the girls in the morning group spent 2 hours sitting with and talking with Ms. Edith. Fourteen year old Rachel wanted to know 80 something year old Ms. Edith’s stories, but more than that, Rachel wanted her to know that she was loved, beautiful and chosen. Ms. Edith started to voice her worries and anxieties about death, recognizing that she was old and sick. She asked some of the youth if they would go to heaven with her. They said absolutely yes. Rachel had the opportunity to step out in boldness and pray for sweet Ms. Edith to comfort her. Ms. Edith does not get many visitors and is very lonely so just the act of the youth spending the time to invest in her brightened her day and let her know that God had not forgotten her.
BUT… God wasn’t done yet. The afternoon ministry crew that went to Bloom also had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Edith. A few of the high school girls spent time sitting with Ms. Edith and sharing stories, talking with her and reassuring her of God’s love and constant presence. One of the youth described her experience as God literally giving her the words to say to comfort Ms. Edith- something she had never experienced before! Ms. Edith then told the girls how much she enjoyed listening to the piano and asked if they knew how to play. Peter, one of the high school boys in the afternoon crew, is a fantastic piano player and blessed the residents with some afternoon tunes. All the residents were smiling, laughing and roars of applause erupted from rooms all the way down the hallway.
For the youth to take such an interest in Ms. Edith and the other residents at Bloom is a huge testimony to God’s love at work in and through them. James 1:27 says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows.” These youth understand the heart of the Father and are ministering to His people, pouring out His love and experiencing a deep joy they may have never experienced before.
More than that, this experience meeting Ms. Edith was a beautiful example of how God uses each of us and how we each play a unique role in the body of Christ. God could have just chosen to use one of the youth to spend time with and minister to Ms. Edith. Instead, He intricately wove several of their stories together—a story many of them did not even realize was being written at the time and may have never realized had we not taken the time to remember and share all that God had done.
Above photo: Ms. Edith in the stripped shirt spending some quality time with the youth.
