Being faithful

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I got an SMS today that read, "Your faithfulness has reached God's heart.  Remain faithful.  God will show u grace."  

The number was not stored in my phone, so I replied, "Thank you.  Whose number is this?"  I have long given up on trying to phrase a polite way of asking for someone's identity because the fact that their number is not stored on my phone is in itself offensive to whomever sends it, so I've decided to just go on and ask the question.  

The response - "Don't tell me you don't know your pastor's number."  

"I think you have the wrong number, Nicole," I wrote back, because neither the senior pastor nor the youth pastor of my church would have responded in that manner nor would they have written in English, plus I have their numbers stored and would have identified them immediately.  

I haven't heard back since.  But that was not my point.  My point was that when I received the message, I was greatly encouraged, having felt as though someone had been indeed watching my life and was confirming that I was taking the right step by coming to Kroondal to work as a German teacher.  

As though the message was deeply personal, I was eager to find out who had thought to send me this message, only to be told the person seems to think I am one of their congregational members, when I am not, meaning there was nothing personal in that message at all, at least not intentionally.  

I remembered having received a voice message on my phone a couple of days ago by a Nigerian-sounding man who said he wanted to speak to me after church, and mentioned he was my pastor.  Right then I wondered how he'd gotten my number by accident, and when I received that response, I knew it was him.  

It doesn't really matter that it was a mistake as such because it got me thinking, "Have I indeed been faithful?"  I mean, what does being faithful entail?  Mind you, this is on a spiritual level entirely, since I am single and thus there is no connection to marital faithfulness in this case.  Instead I asked myself, have I followed the prompting of the Holy Spirit? Have I prayed daily?  Have I studied the Word intensely and intently?  Have I done what the Word says I should?  Am I doing God's will?  Enough?

Uta Nell, the teacher I'll be - God-willing - replacing, spoke to me about the Christian author Francine Rivers, and she made a comment that got my insides turning, "She's an inspired writer."  That is my desire.  To be inspired, and to write from and through that inspiration, the inspiration from God and the people He sends to me and the places He brings me to.

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