Friday, June 28, 2013

My God-ordained purpose in life

Bible study in Zac's on Tuesday was good. Almost like a normal bible study. With lots of contributions and discussions, not much going off at a tangent and no rowdy heckling. Steve had it easy.

I say no going off at a tangent but being Zac's it had to briefly dip into comparative suicide discussion and I chipped in with my story. No, not of suicide but of escape from death.

When my mum was in hospital my cousin's girlfriend drove my gran, my great-aunt and me to hospital to see her. Getting in the car to come home afterwards my gran sat in the front -  which naturally she took as her rightful place being eldest - and I got in behind the driver but then my gran said, 'Don't sit there. Let auntie Gay sit there. You sit behind me to balance the car.' (My gran and great-aunt were large ladies in case you're wondering about her logic.) I did as told - again naturally as she was bossy as well as eldest and large.

A car crash on the way home resulted in my great-aunt being killed. For a long time afterwards, as I told them in Zac's, I felt guilty, 'Because it should have been me.'

There was an instant chorus along the lines of, 'You don't go till it's your time,' and 'God saved you for a purpose.'

So I'm sitting there thinking, 'Well, that's obviously true but was it my wonderful leadership skills, my scriptural insight or spiritual depth that I was saved for?'
'Yes, God saved you to make cakes for Zac's.'

Ah yes, that's it. 

And speaking of cakes, as I was leaving someone said, 'Thank you for the lovely lemon cake.'
'That's okay but it was rhubarb.'
'Rhubarb? Not lemon?'
'No.'
'But it had lemon zest in it?'
'Nope.'
'But you liquidised the rhubarb?'
'No, it was in chunks.'
He stared at me and then shook his head in amazement.

Yep, I make really good cakes.


4 comments:

Leslie: said...

Whatever God's reasoning, I'm glad you're still with us, Liz. :D

Katney said...

I was going to say cake before I even got there.

But I think we may never really know who we have influenced and how much. I get an inkling every once in a while when I run into one of my former first grades all grown up.

And one of my volunteers thanked me for my leadership by giving me a bag of habanero pepper flavored chips (crisps). I am afraid--very afraid.

Liz Hinds said...

Thanks, leslie!

You know me well, katney!

Jay at The Depp Effect said...

Haha! Love the cake story!! Rhubarb is so like lemon, especially in chunks!

But more seriously, what a horrible experience for you, to see your Great Aunt killed in the seat you would have been travelling in! No wonder you felt guilt, however misplaced.

You know, these things happen all the time. We make a decision and have it changed for us by ... well, a variety of factors including other people's wishes (instructions). I try to be mindful and take note of what happens but in the rush of 'being busy' I often do not. I have experienced, in a small way, the consequences of not doing what I'm being nudged to do, whether it's something ultra simple like moving a mat or something more potentially serious like not getting on a train. Thankfully, so far, the consequences have, I think, been all fairly minor ones.

I do often tell myself, if I'm stuck behind a vehicle going at 40mph in a 60mph zone when I'm in a tearing hurry, that maybe it was placed there to slow me down.