Page 7 - Glory & Grace Issue 4: "Small Wonders" Nov 2021

A Bible from the 2015 ELCA Youth Gathering, "Christ in our Home" devotional, "God at Eventide," and "Jesus Calling" are the books Sandi is currently using for daily devotions.
Sandi Shawhan admits her need for order and routine might have something to do with her 35 year practice of doing devotions. "It all started in 1975 at age 15 when I was a junior counselor at Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp," Sandi remembers. "Over seven years of working there, I got used to Bible Study everyday," she says. When the time came to move on from working at Flathead she took the practice of daily devotions with her.
As a young adult she took a 3-4 year break from devotions, but returned to the daily practice, deciding that she would read one chapter of the Bible each day. Sandi estimates that she has read the Bible cover-to-cover six or seven times (a different version each time). How long it takes to read the entire Bible if you read one chapter each day? Sandi replies, "the New Testament you can do in nine months, but the entire Bible takes a bit over three years."
Some might call her an eternal optimist, but Sandi simply states, "we are put on this earth to help other people." Watching her mother serve at funerals and her father volunteer at soldier homes or veterans groups, Sandi "always saw them doing for others" and was inspired to "see what needs to be done and do it!"
Throughout the pandemic there have been many occasions where Sandi says she felt called to minister through her actions. It might mean accompanying a friend to a doctor's visit so she isn't alone or being present to celebrate a milestone, like when a friend finishes a course of chemo. Recently, when a friend's son died unexpectedly at age 30, Sandi decided she would bring her coffee every morning for two weeks. "Nothing I can say will change what has happened," Sandi acknowledges, but this small action, "whether I dropped it off and left or stayed and visited on the front porch, shows that I care." Sandi shares, "My hope was that coffee, just a little thing, would help her get up, get moving, and maybe talk a little bit" in those first days of her grief.
Sandi explains, "I try to look for the good and see life as a series of little things. Maybe it took me a half-hour of time, but it wasn't little to her." Showing another person that they are important enough to be cared about "might look little on the outside, but the impact can be huge."
Sandi Shawhan remembers that when she was growing up, the question wasn't "should we
volunteer?" instead, it was, "what should I do?"
PAGE 7
Sandi Shawhan while serving in Idaho on a
Youth Mission Trip in 2016
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