JEN
"As I was a young mum, with a baby, I wanted to earn a little income. I became an Avon rep and walked the streets of our small town with my baby in the pram trying to sell my products. Yes, I was the Avon Lady. One lady I called on, welcomed me in every time. She put the jug on, and we had a cuppa while she decided what to order. She browsed and smelt testers I had, then the rest was chat. I became quite friendly with her. Every month when I visited, I could always guarantee I’d be invited in and more products would be bought and another cuppa would be made.
"After quite a few months, as we sat at the kitchen table talking this particular day, my best Avon buyer said to me, 'can I please ask you something?' Sure, I said, go for it. She leaned in slightly, 'you have something I want'. Immediately I delved into my Avon bag thinking, oh cool, and I started bringing out some samples and products wondering which item she wanted to buy. She stopped my hand and said, 'No, what I mean is you have something I want meaning, what is it you have, because I want it?' Well, I was taken back a bit, as I shrugged my shoulders, it suddenly came to me, I said, well, I have Jesus. She said, 'wow, is that what it is? Wow, I want him, too'. She then asked me to tell her about Jesus, so with an open door like that, I went for it, lost in awe at the opportunity. We chatted a long time. She sat in awe and I could visibly see Jesus encountering her. The hairs on my arms, stood up. The same love that attracted me to Christ was now shining through me, and she saw it. She didn't question, she didn't push back. It was simply a deep and meaningful connection between Avon lady and her client. She asked me how I walked the walk, so as best as I could, I described my day-to-day life in Jesus. I never put any words in her mouth, I simply asked if she would like to receive Jesus? With tears in her eyes, she said 'yes please'.
"I led her to the Lord there and then and her face shone. She thanked me, and asked me to come with her as she wanted to show me something. She led me down her passageway and opened up the linen cupboard. It was half full of linen and half full of Avon products. Yes, all that I had sold her, was there. Surprised I asked her what this was about?. She told me she bought something off me every month to keep me coming back to her. She didn’t want any of it. She loved our times together and feared losing that. Bless her. Of course, I offered to buy back the products or work out something, but she said no, it was worth everything in her life now. She would give it away sometime.
"She had 5 children and could not drive. We lived in a small town so she walked everywhere, as nothing was too far away. I told her, we could take her and 1 child to church on Sunday, as our town didn’t have a church, so we travelled half an hour to our church. She jumped at the opportunity. She sat in the back seat with our baby in her car seat and 1 of her children. Each week, she brought a different child. She did a sticker chart for jobs for the kids, and the winner each week got to come to church on their own with her and us. It was very precious. However, after a short period of time a bombshell was dropped. We got made redundant. I cried out to the Lord, NO Lord, this will have dire consequences now for our new believer and her children. How will they get to church and being so young in her faith Lord, who will shepherd her now? I couldn’t understand how this could happen. It’s a great honour to tell you what happened next".
Part two
"We packed up our home with sadness in our hearts, ready to depart town. My best Avon customer had come to help us pack, and on that last day she stood crying as hard as we were. All I could do was pray. Out of the blue, the following Saturday, her husband told her he loved her new life. He said she had changed so much and he liked this change. I will take you and the kids to church, he announced. But, he said, he would wait outside in the car. So, this happened. The men in our church went up to the car each Sunday and spoke to him through the window and he started to get to know some of the men. But Sunday after Sunday he sat in the car, while his kids bounded into Sunday school and his wife soaked up the word. One Sunday he actually came and stood at the church door (ready to run) in case anyone noticed him. We noticed him listening in, but didn’t mention it. Then one Sunday he crept into the back seat. From this point on, his children were getting saved each week, and yes even he got saved, and was fully surrendered to the Lord.
"Let me tell you, God did know what he was doing when he sent us away. I thought we were most needed there, but in fact, we were in the way. Because by us leaving town, the husband and Father brought his family to church eventually giving his life over to God. Its unlikely this would have happened if we had continued to take his wife and 1 child each week.
"So often when we think the timing is wrong, or wonder why God would ask us to move on or do something not in our own plan, trust in Him, He’s got an even better plan.
"Soon this precious family were also made redundant, and they moved to a big city for work. Once again, I feared for how they’d get on, and I started trying to find a church for them. I needed not to fear, God had it in control. They found a church and once they had settled in, it wasn’t long before they started an after-school club at their house – telling stories of Jesus and doing a craft and giving the kids afternoon tea. Soon they were taking 2 car loads of children to church each week. Every second week my Avon customer wrote to tell me how many spiritual grandchildren I now had from the kids she'd led to Jesus.
"I would like to tell you as I close, they went on to become the youth pastors of that church. All through an Avon lady who had the time to sit and chat to a lonely lost soul who just wanted company.
"Life is full of challenges. Much later I got a sad letter from the husband. He endorsed our story by asking 'why would the Lord take my darling wife away from me?' He explained his wife had died and afterwards he had cried to God with so many questions. He reflected back to why we left the town so soon, and wondered if God was saying, the best was yet to come. God had encouraged him and that even though he had lost his wife, he didn’t yet know the full story or the ending of what God was going to do in this family now without a wife and a mum. But he trusted the Lord, even in that great loss, believing that God does things for our good, in ways we could never understand".
Proverbs 3: 5-6 " Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight".