Excerpt from post on Saturday, June 9th 2012…

The past week has been eventful in many other ways. Last Saturday, with a team of helpers from our church family, I was (or rather, ‘we were’) able to do some much needed ground work for one of our neighbours, R. Please pray for R. She’s a very elderly and very bitter woman. Whenever we speak, she rarely has a good word to say about anyone – including herself. If (as Jesus asserted) the mouth is the overflow of the heart then R’s heart is mangled with hate and regret. I met her just the other day, a few days after we had done some ground work for her. It was wet and windy and she was waiting at the bus-stop (‘stop’ being the operative word because you never get anywhere fast when you wait for a bus in our neck of the woods!). R had lots of options for complaining. But instead, she smiled and was full of thanks for the work that was done. She had even called her daughter over to come and see the garden. Whenever she’s mentioned her family to me before it’s always been poisoned with resent.

Annie has told R about the love of Jesus many times. The last time Annie talked to her about Jesus, R shared her fear of death and feeling of unworthiness. I know that Annie continued to point R to the cross of Jesus as the place where her fears would be allayed and feelings transformed by the hope that Jesus brings to those who trust Him.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. – Matthew 13:45,46

I hope to go and do some more work in the garden one evening next week and maybe the opportunity will come again to share Jesus as she asks me about Annie. Please pray that R would come to put her life and trust in Jesus so that by name and by nature she would know how precious she is to God.