Proof The Bible Is True

We worked on pronunciation, inflection, tone, pace and body language. He taught us the importance of making eye contact with the audience. Perhaps the most crucial thing he taught us was what we were doing when we were giving a reading. “When you participate in the church service, you are giving people a gift from God. That’s why we work so hard to open ourselves to the words on the page.”

Under Father Rivers’s guidance, I learned to stop thinking of myself as a woman speaking in public. I was the tool God used to share good news with others.

Now I was ready to share that gift with my new church. My husband, son, daughter and I had been attending for several weeks, but we still didn’t feel like we fit in. Our young family was very different from a lot of the other church members—many of them were senior citizens, most of them white. I’d hoped seeing me up at the podium now, where I’d always been back in Ohio, would help my family feel more at home.

I found the reading in the Bible and looked out at the audience, just as Father Rivers had taught me. Once again I was struck by how many people filled the church—and how few of those people looked like me. I took a breath to calm my nerves. “A reading from Psalm seventy-one…”

Momentarily I was distracted by a cold sensation on my right. Not a draft, exactly. It crossed in front of me and stopped to my left, like a presence. Despite the coolness, it seemed to radiate love, and it awakened in me an incredible joy. I’d never felt anything like it.

Read More  All God’s Gifts – Page 1 | Guideposts.