"Great idea to have a booth at this book sale!" Rachel exclaimed to her friend, as she set out their
homemade flyers, business cards and Christian tracks for their new group.
"Thank you. I think it will be a great way to advertise our ministry! I sure hope that missionary girl, Kristin Amen, will see our booth!"Amanda rejoiced in the thought of the kind missionary seeing their ministry.
Hailey, Rachel, Amanda and a couple other girls from their church were starting a girls discipling group and could not wait to start encouraging other girls. They were planning all sorts of witnessing outings and group studies.
Amanda saw a beautiful young lady walk up to the booth, "Hi, how can I help you?" she asked in her charming voice, a sweet smile decorating her face.
"Why yes..." The pretty girl attempted an answer then stared rudely at the girl beside her.
"Oh I was just looking at your flyers." A girl in rather rugged clothes answered, not realizing the question had been meant for the well dressed girl beside her. She had been there for quite a while, the three girls behind the booth ignoring her, her tanned skin and rugged features.
The girl standing next to her with her soft brown curls and deep blue eyes scooted an inch away and tried to answer again. "Why yes, I heard about your ministry. I've been looking for some accountability..."
The two girls talked on with energetic excitement. The girl wrote down her information and walked away after a joyful conversation. The plain girl still stood there. The girls wondered why she kept standing around. She must have certainly read all the material in their booth several times, they thought. Why couldn't she go stand at someone else's booth and annoy them? They were trying to tell people about their ministry and they did not want to be associated with the slummy looking person hanging around. The awkward girl kept trying to start a conversation but the girls would find some reason to turn away. The girl was just not getting the hint!
"I just can't wait to go to Kristen's Amen's workshop! It is going to be so inspiring! She has won so many souls for Christ and she's not even that much older than us!" Rachel dreamed on about meeting the lovely, kind missionary she envisioned.
"She is so godly." Amanda joined in the praise of the girl they dreamed of being like. All the Christian girls just loved her. Besides Jesus, she was their ultimate role model.
"I want to be just like her." Hailey chimed in.
They had forgotten all about the ugly girl lingering around their booth. Finally Rachel had to do something! "Can I help you?" she said in a irritated tone.
"I was hoping you could tell me about your your plans for serving your group."
Rachel looked helplessly at her friends. "Oh my! We have to go if we are going to go to Kristen's workshop!" Hailey jumped to her friends rescue, relieved to be able to get away from the annoying girl.
"Lets leave a sign saying where we are going!"
~~~
The girls practically ran to the workshop. When the they saw Kristen come up to the microphone their eyes got wide. They gasped. They cringed.
"That-that couldn't be"
"Is that"
"Oh no" The girls stuttered in shock, for the quite unlovely girl they had been trying to avoid all day was indeed the very same one they had been idolizing amongst themselves. Immediately they felt ashamed-horrified at themselves. How could they have been so terribly awful? Their eyes welled up with tears as they realized their foolishness.
Kristen looked straight at them and smiled a true, sweet smile filled with nothing but love. They saw a beauty in her features that they had not bothered to see before.
Kristen Amen began her lecture with a bible verse and another encouraging smile, " "1 John 4:7 Beloved let us love another: for Love is of God; and every on that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the Love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is Love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." God sent His son to serve among the least of us and He told us to do the same. He told us to go make disciples for Him... We are to love and serve those who seem unlovable, the ugly, the weak, the annoying. We must learn to love with unconditional love, agape love."
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