DAY 14: "A Light Bulb Moment" by Linda Willis

DAY FOURTEEN: "A Light Bulb Moment" by Linda Willis

Have you ever had a light bulb moment? You know, the moment where, after hearing or seeing something dozens of times, the message suddenly appears or the answer becomes apparent? I think Beth Moore calls them “God Stops”. Or, have you studied a particular Bible verse and it just keeps popping up when you start to study the Bible—like God is trying to tell you something? Whatever you call them, it seems that in the past two years, I’ve had a lot of these moments.

It was two years ago this week that Rick and I moved to Booneville for a promotion for Rick. We had lived in Tupelo for the past 30 years! What a change! After the rush of selling our house (and unloading 17 years of “stuff” for 2 grown children), and buying a new house was over, reality set in. Although we had moved, we knew we would still be close enough to keep in touch with friends. But on Sunday mornings it became clear that we didn’t have a church home! For the past several years, we had been very active in church; Rick was in a leadership position. So the first church we visited was the same “non-denominational” church that we had attended all of our lives. It was very apparent after the first visit that we didn’t need to go there. For the next year we visited around several churches. We even traveled to Corinth a couple of times, but nothing felt “right’.

I still travel back to Tupelo every day to work. On the way to work each morning, I listen to praise music and pray. There’s one spot on the way where there is a field and at the edge of that field there’s a small tree standing all alone. It is at that “spot” one day that some Bible verses in Jeremiah became crystal clear to me. I had always loved Jeremiah 29:11 (“I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord”) , I guess because it gave me so much hope that God actually had plans for me! But, the verses right after that are even more special.

“Then you will call on upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.” Jeremiah 29:12-13

It was along that highway that I knew that I had to give Him all of my heart on finding a church “home”. It wasn’t too long before my daughter Courtney told us of a new church in Tupelo that we might want to visit. Courtney lived in Birmingham and she had heard that a minister from Birmingham had gone to Tupelo to plant a new church. Then, we heard that some of our friends had started going to Trace Crossing. We checked out the website, and decided one Sunday morning to go back to Tupelo to visit. We came out of church that morning feeling truly blessed and knew we had found our new “home”.

God does have a plan for us. He plans to “prosper us and not harm us”. He plans to “give us a hope and a future”. That little tree on the road from Booneville to Tupelo is a daily reminder that God had a plan for me. A plan to begin a new spiritual adventure. And by doing what He told me to do — "to seek Him with all of my heart" - he answered my prayer. I’m wondering now just how long it took me to have that “light bulb moment”!

My Prayer for Trace Crossing

Dear God, Creator of this world and all that is within it, I pray thanking you for including me in Your plan. I thank you for your church at Trace Crossing and for the vision of its leaders. I thank you for the concern for others that I have witnessed and for the love for one another, that is so apparent there. I pray that your message will be spread and that much good will come from what we learn here. I pray for Kevin as he guides us and for his tender heart, and I pray for Kevin as he leads us in worship in such a wonderful way. I pray that we will be a church that is known for living Christian lives and that by doing so, we will teach God’s words to many more people. I love you. In your name, I pray, Amen.