Minnie Goes to Heaven (78)

(a novel continued)

For Minnie’s birthday toward the end of January, John and Minnie enjoyed a candlelight dinner at the Old Mill and watched Fiddler on the Roof at the local theater. When they got home there were phone messages from both the boys wishing her a happy birthday and one from Pastor Peters asking her to call him back. Nothing from Mary.

The next day when Minnie phoned Pastor Peters he was all business. He didn't mention her birthday. “I was thinking we could hold our praise service on the Sunday evening before Valentines’ Day,” he said. “Would you be able to give a testimony? Keep it light. Sing some praise songs. The worship team will come up with some appropriate hymns and I will close things off. We’ll keep it short, maybe an hour at the most.”

‘Lord, this better be your plan or I'm in big trouble,’ Minnie prayed in her spirit. 

“Do you want to see my testimony, before I give it?” she asked Pastor Peters. She knew he wouldn't want  to leave things to chance, but he surprised her, “I’ll trust you to keep your talk under twenty minutes.”

Since Minnie had zero experience with public speaking (a fact she didn't share with Pastor Peters), she was glad he didn't expect more than that. 

‘Lord, what do I say?’ she prayed.

‘Speak from your heart. I will direct you.’

‘Thanks for that.’ It struck Minnie once again that her way of life had changed dramatically since her accident. Worry had disappeared and prayer had taken over. Now she found her connection with the Lord completely essential. And, she was looking forward to giving a twenty minute testimonial. If she had been asked to do something like this a year ago, she would have found forty reasons to be somewhere else.