Beauty (and soul) therapy

‘Oh mum, you need your eyebrows threaded’, my daughter moaned. Forewarned, I headed to a local beautician. It’s one of those shops in a mall with pictures of beautiful young women on the outside while inside ageing women in various states of repair recline on chairs.

This is how my evangelism story began. The staff who attend to my eyebrows are like the beautiful women in the pictures – Indian girls from Hindu families.

Today, Irene and Nicky are sorting me out. I have built a rapport with Irene. She has talked about wanting a baby and is positively ‘popping’, so we share the joy of her ‘bump’.

The girls know I help run a prayer group for my church. They are Hindu but don’t see this as odd as they have praying mothers. So, amid our chatter, I suggested we pray for the baby. I checked if it was okay to pray in Jesus’ name, and they were happy.

I prayed a simple blessing over the baby and that it would grow to know God and be healthy, strong and full of joy.

Next, Irene asked, ‘Which church do you go to?’, so I told her about my Lutheran church. ‘Oh’, she said, ‘I also work as a carer, and I go to a Lutheran church with my client on Sundays. My favourite song is “Jesus loves me”, and when I went to the church recently that was the first song they sang.’ So, we sang ‘Jesus loves me’ in the beauty parlour.

I felt it was time to take the conversation further, so I said, ‘Do you know why you heard that song, Irene?’. ‘No’, she replied. ‘It’s because God’s Spirit knows you and is calling you.’

My prayer then is that God’s Spirit will continue to work in Irene and her colleagues. Praise be to him.

• Visit www.lca.org.au/spread-the-word to find promotional materials (A5 flyers, PowerPoint slides and social media posts) to help you spread the word about our Story of the Week.
• Read the full Story of the Week and others like it in The Lutheran. 11 editions/year. Only $30 (digital) or $45 (print or print & digital – Aust), $47 (NZ). Gift subscriptions available. To subscribe: online www.thelutheran.com.au email lutheran.subs@lca.org.au phone 08 8360 7270.