Today I'm going to share a short story
with you and include some pictures I took with my camera phone. The story has everything
to do with my hotel room number when I was in Washington D.C. for business purposes last week and how it
inspired me.
I just noticed I wrote Thursday, instead of Friday.
My hotel room number was 316. The numbers 316 always remind me of John 3:16 which says: For God so loved the world
that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish but have eternal life. This is the verse I memorized when I was a teenager during a season in my life when I attended church services
on Thursday evenings. It's also one of the most widely quoted verses from the Christian Bible and in a nutshell, it is the Gospel.
When I noticed that I was assigned
to room 316 it made me smile inside and outside too. I just knew God was with
me, no doubt. I was feeling His presence in such wonderful ways that entire
day. Logistically speaking, everything went super well as I traveled to D.C. I
found a great parking spot at the airport, the tram to get to the other side of
the airport arrived just as I walked onto the platform, boarding went smooth, the
flight was smooth, landing was smooth, and getting to the D.C. office went smooth.
During the check-in process at the
hotel, I chatted with the man who gave me my room cards at the hotel. I shared
with him that I was glad he assigned me to room 316. Room 316 was an upgrade he
offered me, just because. Why thank you kind man! It was a large room with a well equipped kitchen, a full
sized fridge, a stove, a large sectional sofa etc., etc. It was a very nice room. When he handed me my room cards, I shared with him that I love the numbers 316 with a big smile and asked him to guess why I love the numbers 316 so much. He looked at me, paused for a little while and then began to recite John 3:16 to me. Oh my gravy! Was I ever pleasantly surprised! I didn't expect that. We got a good chuckle out of that. I super loved that moment! He shared with me that he is a God fearing man and attends church regularly. We got to chatting about where he was from because he
had such a beautiful accent. He shared with me that home is Uruguay but he's been in the United States for 30 years now
The following morning, right before
I checked out, I felt inspired to leave something of significance for the
person who would later walk in that room to clean it. I almost always leave a tip but
that morning, I felt inspired to leave a generous tip and a little something
more.
Allow me to mention that every
morning during the month of January, my friend Nikki who lives in St. Louis and I call each other at
6am to recite a declaration from Joel Osteen's new book called: I Declare.
Since I knew I would be traveling, I brought copies of the declaration with me so I
wouldn't have to carry the book with me.
On the day I checked out of the hotel, before I left the hotel room, I
decided to leave my copy of the declaration in the room as a gift and wrote a short note on it. My note included what John 3:16 means.
Before I left the hotel room that morning, I did the following ...
I left an open Bible. It was the Bible I read from the night before that was in a drawer next to the bed. I left the Bible open to the book of John marking John 3:16 so they could see this verse for themselves in the Bible.
I left an open Bible. It was the Bible I read from the night before that was in a drawer next to the bed. I left the Bible open to the book of John marking John 3:16 so they could see this verse for themselves in the Bible.
I left a $20 bill that sat on top
of the note I wrote. The note was written on my copy of day 4's declaration from Joel Osteen's book.
I also left the radio on, which was tuned into a Christian radio station that plays contemporary Christian music. It's what I listened to the night before and the morning of. I love contemporary Christian music. It's what sets the tone for me to start my day. I love music and it's what puts a pep in my step every morning.
I also left the radio on, which was tuned into a Christian radio station that plays contemporary Christian music. It's what I listened to the night before and the morning of. I love contemporary Christian music. It's what sets the tone for me to start my day. I love music and it's what puts a pep in my step every morning.
Before I left the room that
morning, I paused and prayed that God would bless the recipient of the gift I left behind and
prayed that it would remind them that God sees them and hears them and is
reaching out to them. I will never know what that note or money meant to the person who walked
into that room that day but in my spirit, I know I did what God wanted me to do
that morning and it felt and still feels good as I remember that morning.
I left a larger tip than usual because God placed it on my heart to do so. I originally was going to leave a $10 bill but in my spirit, I felt a nudge to put the $10 bill back into my wallet and leave a $20 bill instead. I remember saying: "Okay boss." ... cause God really is the boss of me. :o)
If I had the right amount of change, I would have left 3 singles on one side of the note and a ten, a five and a single dollar bill on the right side of the note. That would have been brilliant, don't you think? Well creative at least. That money would have represented 3 16.
If I had the right amount of change, I would have left 3 singles on one side of the note and a ten, a five and a single dollar bill on the right side of the note. That would have been brilliant, don't you think? Well creative at least. That money would have represented 3 16.
My heart felt full that morning, so
full. I felt so happy leaving that room that morning and thought about the
person who received that gift that entire day and during my entire weekend.
Today I was thinking about that person and whispered a quiet prayer for them asking God to meet this persons needs.
And as I thought about this person today and everything I left behind that morning,
it inspired me to share this story with you today. I hope you enjoyed it.
God is so good my beloved readers. And I love how He whispers to us and inspires us. In my last post I mentioned that lately I'm listening and hearing in ways I couldn't hear before. This story is a perfect example of just that. This inspiration
totally came from God and it felt SO wonderful to have the God of our universe
inspire me in such a beautiful and creative way to bless someone I will never
meet or see. Only God!
Until next time … God bless you and if God whispers
to you to do something good, do it. You’ll be so glad you did.
~Ruthie
A whisper. It’s spoken softly in quiet tones. It’s hard to hear and easy to miss. And it’s often how God communicates with us. ~ Author Unknown
A whisper. It’s spoken softly in quiet tones. It’s hard to hear and easy to miss. And it’s often how God communicates with us. ~ Author Unknown
I just noticed I wrote Thursday, instead of Friday.
A sign that I do my best work after 10am and not at 7am. Latte please! : )
