Gas Stations, Nail Polish, and Missional Living
Meet Julia…
So, confession time…I’ve been calling her Maria since last July because I honestly thought that was her name. However, I found out today that Julia is her real name. Oops.
Julia works down the street from our Mission Center at the local gas station.
Last summer, we struck up a conversation about my nail polish. I was wearing a fun Essie color name “Turquoise & Cacaos” (such a fun name I had to share). She asked me if I had bought it in town or at home. I told her at home in the US but that when I come back I’ll bring her some.
She was super excited about it, so come December when we were here for graduation I walked in the gas station and immediately she remembered me…and my promise. Well, guess who forgot. Yup. This girl!
I felt terrible! So, ever since then I’ve wrote it down and made sure that during this trip I wouldn’t forget.
So, after my crazy travel adventure (blog to come…get pumped)…this evening was my first chance to go by the gas station. Literally, about a 2 hours ago. I was praying she’d be working and PRAISE JESUS she was!
She was so excited to see me and I gave her a big hug…found out her name was Julia (minor setback) but, was able to recover from it quickly. The youth (Tony, Enyel and Massiel) that were with me, of course couldn’t contain themselves and had a nice laugh about it. 🙂
I wish you all could have seen her face when I told her I had a present for her and that I hadn’t forgotten! She had this huge smile on her face and said “You remembered!.”
It was one of those moments you take a little mental picture of, because, in that moment it sunk in that these moments are so important to God. This is how the gospel reaches people! It’s the love of Christ impacting our everyday relationships!
He cares about Julia! He is actually crazy about her! He cared enough to send a little white, North Carolina girl with 2 bottles of nail polish and I pray that this builds a relationship that, in his timing I can introduce her to Jesus! Ah! She’s gonna love him!
Our conversation went from the laughs of me messing up her name to the excitement of new nail polish and ended with her asking me how long I’d be here in Nicaragua. I told her only this week but that I’ve been thinking about her so much and that I would love to get to know her better. That I’ve been praying for her and hope to be able to spend more time with her. She lit up and said “that’d be great! I’d love that! I work again this Thursday, can you come back before you leave? I’ll fix my hair and have my nails painted with my new nail polish!” Of course…I’ll be there!
Please join me in praying that Julia (formerly known as Maria) and I can build a good relationship. That it will form into whatever the Lord sees fit. That if nothing else I can tell her that I care about her and want to know how I can be praying for her!
When you go to the gas station in your neighborhood ,would you remember her please and say a little prayer for her? Pray that Jesus reveals himself to her and pursues her heart! That she’d know he sees her and that he is crazy about her!
I’m glad I got to introduce you to her!
