NOT INSIGNIFICANT...

I thought it was rather insignificant. A conversation I'd had with my cousin, well, I wasn't very good in my Japanese either, so I didn't think it was worth posting about so was going to skip the incident and looked for the next thing to show online readers.

ANSWER IT JUNE!

But the next morning, when my cellphone rang, somehow, the Holy Spirit nudged me something strong like I had to pick up right away, didn't dare let it go to the answering machine. When I picked up, it was the cousin I'd just been reading about.

It felt like God was underlining and putting everything she said in all caps.

That conversation was almost 50 years ago? I'll share excerpts from it:

--------------------------------------

I'd opened my Bible to a favorite Psalm and taken it to my saved but deeply depressed cousin, saying to her in my poor Japanese (I hadn't gone to language school yet): "This scripture helps me. When I look at myself, I get depressed. Because I'm a sinner, of course I'm very bad." Was she understanding what I was trying to say? "But when I look up at God like this, I am helped." That was the best I could do then.

But at that time, Rumiko had looked down at the Bible and began reading the words of Psalm 42. Tears fell from her eyes, and she whispered, "This is really good," as she left the room, still reading. "Have you ever wanted to go to Bible School?" I mused out loud, seeing the way she loved the Word.

7-year-old Rumiko

Grampa Nagata, who died several years earlier, had led Rumiko to Christ when she was a little girl. Altho' he died brokenhearted because she had drifted far from God, she'd come back and began changing from barely surviving to living abundantly. Soon Rumiko found herself fulfilling Grampa's dream and...going to Bible School!

Rumiko helping my mom and her sisters

In this week's phone call, Rumiko said the one thing she remembers about that talk 50 years ago was my asking, "Rumiko, have you thought about Bible School?" She says that's when she started really thinking about it. That talk was insignificant, I thought; you never know what God can use.