Is your Happiness packed in boxes?

My life here in Florida has been going through some major changes. I’d already known that it wasn’t going to be easy making a major move at the tender age of seventy-six. Somehow, by the Grace of God, He gave me the strength daily to tackle one box at a time until a mountain of boxes impeded my moving about the apartment freely.

I tried to mark the boxes so that I would know what was in each one. Two boxes indicated what was safely packed within them—MY Sweetest possessions.

It might sound like “senior sentiment” but every day I could feel the need to get this sweet gift out of the box and back into my daily line of view. My son gave me these precious little china joys. The story is as precious to me as they are.

It was Mother’s Day or Birthday, that part eludes me. But My Son was overseas in England at the time. I’d been doing the long-distance Mothering thing for months. But I knew it was part of a son joining the Military. They say go and the enlisted–go.

But I have a son whose heart is always mindful of what his mother is going through. So, during a phone call to let me know that my gift was coming, he included this statement, “Mom, the minute I saw this, the first thing I said was that this looks just like my Mom.”

I was so excited about what happy comparison would come in the mail to me. The package arrived safely, and I immediately began to open it. I already had a flood of tears threatening to spill out from behind my eyes because of missing my son.

I carefully lifted the packing paper which led to softer white tissue paper. The first thing I saw was the white lid that evidently went to a teapot. As I continued to clear away the paper my expectations of pulling some cheerfully created teapot soon vanished. The further I pulled the teapot out the whiter it grew. By the time all I could see was a round solid white teapot my mind traveled back to my son’s statement, “Mom this reminds me of you.”

I sat holding the teapot still sitting in a handful of tissue paper and my mind paused. “My son thinks I remind him of a “solid white teapot?” There wasn’t one stroke of color anywhere on this teapot. It certainly had a playful round shape—like me, but that was all. I instantly thought that must have been the comparison my son made.

I took a deep breath and pulled the tissue paper completely away from the bottom of the teapot and that is when the tears came along with a loud exclamation of, “OH MY GOODNESS!!”

Standing now before me on its two little feet adorned with Mary Jane shoes and polka-dotted socks was the sweetest thing I had ever seen! I did the laughing/ crying thing a mother does when her heart is filled with joy.

As I uncovered each little treasure, they were soon all standing in front of me in their own set of socks and shoes. I stared at them for hours.

So, when I moved here to Florida, they had been packed carefully ensuring their safe travel. I have now been here for ten months, and my sweet little friends were still packed away.

I reason that because of the unexpected events surrounding my move here, my heart didn’t want to unpack them if I wasn’t staying. It’s taken ten months filled with a great deal of prayer, tears, and encouragement from a couple of lovely people God has been using to assure me that God doesn’t make mistakes. I knew in my heart that this was where I was to come. But the expectations I set were way too high and too much my own. God DID bring me here but for other reasons than mine.

Getting to open my heart up to God’s plan has been a test of Faith and much extended Grace.

God is so good to His children. He hears our thoughts afar off and knows about every hurt we go through. I just had to open my mind and heart to be able to see the Plan God had for me living here.

When I did, God had a man show up at my door who is acting as an advocate for each resident in my building. He introduced me to a lovely lady who had just asked him the day before about wanting to volunteer to help anyone who needed any transportation. He gave her my name and the contact was made and thoroughly enjoyed! My need has more than been met.

Then he put me in touch with a group here called Stephen Ministries. This is a group of individuals who go through quite extensive training to become ambassadors of the Lord. They come to listen and encourage anyone who might need a caring touch.

This is the second plan God had for me. I lost my lifelong friend who was going to come to see me and us doing things together as we had planned due to unforeseen events. The disappointment was huge.

But God had always promised me that He would never leave or forsake me. I just had to let Him lift my head and heart to see that that was still true.

So, the other day, once I settled it in my heart that I’m staying here, I unwrapped not only my heart, but my Sweet Little “footed” friends! It might sound silly, but the first night I sat across from the shelf where they were now standing, I felt—at home! I had not felt that way since coming here. Every day my heart was torn between here and wishing that I had never moved here. I knew something had to change. I could not live with the indecision. It was affecting me in more ways than one.

Let my story encourage any reader that God is Faithful. He will never forsake any child of His. He always has a plan for our lives and promises to help us find that Plan if we are willing even when our hearts are so hurt and our eyes downcast. He is the Glory and the lifter of our heads!

Things will and do get better when we allow God to show us what to do and then trust Him no matter what.

Now every time I look at my little Sweeties standing across from me, they bring even more joy to my heart! They are twice given—once from my son and then as a promise from God that he knows what's best for me. Seeing them has become an unspoken, “Welcome Home.”

My son texted me the same statement. I know that it has helped lessen the pain he has been feeling also. Now he too can rest assured that his mother is truly at home!

I bless you!

 

 

 

 

Just as if you were there…

Technology can be amazingly beneficial or devastating to a person’s mind. As I have grown older, there are many things that I can no longer do that I once found simple. But lately, I’ve also been able to go places and do things that my life never would have afforded me, thanks to being able to watch the physical accomplishments of others.

I’ve watched families build a home from the ground up, flanked by the backdrop of majestic mountains, the kind I can only see on a calendar. One young woman with a crazy inner drive has secluded herself away from other people in one of the coldest places on earth. Why? I don’t have any idea. But I can watch her daily activities without having to be there freezing to death or dodging the threat of polar bears wanting me for breakfast.

Lately, I’ve been drawn to the book of Ephesians. Every morning, I’ve read over the first two chapters, not able to read past them. They contain incredible promises given to me as a believer by God the Father. That’s how you have to approach the Bible. You have to see it as a letter that has come in the mail to you. You have to read it with the same enthusiasm and interest that you would if you got a letter from a dearest friend. But how many of us do that?

I read these events written by people who were THERE at the time. They might have been the ones receiving the words directly from God, and I wasn’t there—or was I? I might not have been there physically, but nevertheless, what was spoken to the person at the time was also being spoken for them to convey what was said; to me. All these years later, the letter arrived, and I opened it.

I love the movie A Few Good Men. I have watched it numerous times. I watch it, anticipating the moment when Colonel Nathan R. Jessep gets arrested. He’s an arrogant man who has let power go to his head and uses it to lord it over everyone he comes in contact with. He believes that he is completely above being called out for any of his actions. So, at the moment in the courtroom when Lt. Daniel Kaffee, a lesser man in Col. Jessep’s opinion, takes him down, I usually holler, “Yes!”

It's a movie, I understand that, and the people are just actors, but the emotion it evokes in me is real. I have had times in my life when I was at the mercy of an individual who controlled my life with their heady power over me just because they could.

I don’t know any normal person who wouldn’t shout when the hammer drops on the evil doer. We don’t have to have been there, but somehow, we feel a part of the justice served.

I have no memory of being with God before the creation of the world, but the Word says that I was there. I had yet to be born into this sinful world. I came as every human being—born into this sinful nature. I had no way of avoiding it and neither have you. The world fell into sin by our original ancestral parents—Adam and Eve. Because of their sin, we become sinners.

You might cry out, “But I wasn’t there! I wouldn’t have done what they did! Why am I being punished?”

If that is your argument, you’re not alone. We all have thought the very same thing. But that would be missing the point. It doesn’t matter if we were physically there at the time; what matters right now, at this moment, is what is being offered to us as redemption. Wouldn’t you be more interested in hearing about someone coming to your defense? Now, no longer focusing on why, wouldn’t you be more interested in who it is who is now offering you complete payment for your sin? Wouldn’t you want someone to come tell you? Someone who saw and heard what was said and done?

There’s another place where I wasn’t physically present at the time it happened. Let’s look at this letter. Mark 16: 1-7 Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. 2 Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” 4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. 7 But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”

Here is the moment in time where what Jesus had been telling all who followed Him had happened. Now He wanted others to come see for themselves what these three women were privileged to be the first to know. But what always catches my eye are these two words—and Peter. Jesus had already known about Peter’s denial, cursing, and sinful conduct right before His crucifixion. He knew that Peter was riddled with anguish. Can you imagine when these women ran to tell the disciples and then turned and said, “And, Peter, Jesus made it a point to tell you that he wants to see you.”

Can you imagine the agony and perhaps fear that ran through Peter at having to face Jesus again? He knew what he had done. But what ends up happening is completely different than what Peter was expecting—what he knew he deserved. All his expectations had been dashed when Jesus was taken and crucified. So, Peter did the only thing he thought was left for him to do—he went back to fishing. I imagine him finding himself sitting in that boat once again, wondering what in the world had just happened, was torment. I hope you will take the time to read John Chapter 21.

Peter has to come face to face with Jesus and get what he knows he deserves. Unlike the character of Col. Jessep, who remains totally unrepentant of his actions, Peter comes humbly, deserving of whatever Jesus decides he deserves. In Peter’s mind, it certainly wasn’t breakfast and forgiveness.

None of us were physically there for any of the events in the Word of God. But the people who were there have sent Word for us to come, the Bible is God’s voice saying, “And (insert your name) Susan.” It’s God still saying through His Word, “I want to see you.” It can be one of the scariest happening or THE most forgiving, life-giving moment of your life. In this post today, I want my voice to be saying to each of you, “God wants to see you.”

If you take this invitation and humbly go to God, you’ll be wonderfully amazed by the outcome. Sadly, don’t be like the movie character Col. Jessep; there will be people who will never feel that they have done anything wrong, deserving judgment and the consequences of their actions.

I pray you are not one of those people.

I bless you.