Meet Our Friend "S"
Rod and I met S through a South Holly Church member who knew she had recently lost her mother. At our first encounter with S, we knew she was struggling – a lot – in her grief, but also recognized that she did not know the only One who could truly heal her grief, and that’s Jesus.
Within the first couple of weeks, I offered to meet with S for coffee – which we did. I just listened.
I asked if she’d like to meet again, which she accepted, and we met for lunch. I just listened.
That grew into meeting S for lunch every Tuesday, which we continue to do. I still
listen WAY more than I talk.
As I listened to her story, she told me she went to Catholic school all throughout her life. She didn’t “get” religion class and was so frustrating to the nuns that they told her, “You are doomed to hell”, kicked her out of religion class and told her to work in the kitchen instead. She became very adept in the kitchen tasks as she apparently spent lots of time there - instead of in religion class learning about Jesus :/ .
S tells her colleagues at work that she’s meeting with her “grief counselor” and that she always feels better after our lunches. In the early weeks, I did share the Gospel with her, and offered to go through "The Story of Hope" to show her who Jesus really is. She was hesitant because of feeling overwhelmed – a common symptom of grief – but readily expressed a desire to continue meeting weekly to chat. God quickly impressed upon me the need to just sit back and watch Him work, which I did and am still doing.