How often are we blessed with an immediate answer to prayer?  Not often in my experience.  But this morning God showed quite clearly that He heard my cry to Him just hours after I fell asleep in tears.  A phone call.  A possible writing job.  Someone who desperately needed to hear the very things that I am struggling to learn. 

Then....then...as the work day was drawing to a close, I ended up talking to a man who is another transplant from the South.  I suspect he is a Southern Baptist, but I invited him to church anyway.  Of course, the invitation was preceded by an hour's conversation on Confessional Lutheranism, the Book of Concord, praying the Psalter, the Liturgy, and pastoral care.  I think his family is hungry for the Word.  They would certainly get fed at St. Athanasius!

I was telling him about the sermons and offered to send a couple.  I think the vinedresser one and the one on how God drives the conversation of our lives would be good selections.  I need to get the audio files from Pastor, though.  Can you believe that I have not yet bugged him for all the audio files that he has before I started attending?

Just in case you are not quite convinced that God was showering me with His presence today, Pastor sent the hymns for Sunday a day early.  He usually sends them on Wednesday, so now I have a whole extra day to learn them, savor them, and reflect upon how they reinforce and extend the message of the scripture readings for Sunday.

The icing on the cake this day?  A co-worker bringing me a fork from McDonalds.  Yep, you read that right!  I cannot eat with metal utensils anymore because all I taste is the metal if I do.  Having to use plastic forks all the time, I have developed distinct preferences for which kind.  Strangely, the smaller ones are easier for me to use with the clumsiness in my hands.  McDonald's forks are the absolute best out there. I do not eat fast food much anymore, so I don't really have a chance to pick them up.  Unfortunately, after going through the dishwasher a few months, the plastic forks break, no matter the type.  So, I was currently out of any McDonald's ones.  Now I have a new one!