Heaven Bound

THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY

Have there been times in your life when you have wondered if God really hears your prayers?  Times when it feels like the valley you’re walking through is so low and so deep that you’re lost even to God?  Times when you have cried out, “GOD, WHERE ARE YOU ????”   If you have ever experienced a time in your life like this, then you will be able to identify with the story I am about to tell you.  This is a story about someone very special to me, my baby, my youngest daughter, Kristin.

My daughter Kristin is 30 years old and a mother herself to three year old Graycie.   In the last couple of months, my daughters husband left her for a woman he met at work.  Since that time, my daughter has been  devastated, distraught and overwrought with emotional pain.   The fear and uncertainty of facing life as a single parent has left her emotionally fragile and worn out from weight loss and insomnia due to worry.   Constantly  praying for the Lord’s intervention in this situation,  it seems as though God has not heard her cries, for her husband remains completely immovable,  determined in his decision and unremorseful for his actions.  This past Thursday was particularly stressful and I felt my daughter barely hanging on by a thread.   The breaking point came, when my soon to  be ex-son in law came to pick up his belongings.  Working in the garage to pack up his things, my three year old grandaughter was happy and excited to be at his side.  “Daddy”, she said, in her little voice,  “I help you”.  She wanted to be a good girl and a good helper.  Little did she know, she was helping her father to pack up his things for leaving her and her mother.  But, my daughter knew and watching this became almost more than she could bear.    When I heard this story, my heart just broke.   That night I prayed again, but, this time I had no words, all I could say was “God, please help, please help, please help”.  My spirit groaned with in me, all other words seemed inadequate.

That evening my daughter purchased tickets for her and Graycie to fly to Washington the next day  to see my other daughter, her sister.  Kristin felt she needed to get away, she needed some time while the divorce is pending to clear her head and to begin to make some decisions towards her future.  The next day, late afternoon, my sister drove Kristin and Graycie to the airport to catch their plane.  When they arrived at the airport, they were told, “yes, they had a reservation” but, “no, they did not have tickets”  Apparently, according to the airline, the payment did not go through.   My daughter called her bank and was told that the  yes, the funds for the tickets had been taken out of her account, her account had been charged.   But, before they could get this resolved, the plane had left.  Disappointed and discouraged, they had no choice but, to leave and try to get tickets for another day.

ENTERTAINING ANGELS UNAWARE

As my sister drove them away from the airport, she tried to encourage my daughter with these words. “Things always happen for a reason, evidently, you were not meant to be on that plane, let’s go get something to eat”.  My daughter agreed and they set out to find a restaurant.  It was Friday evening at dinner hour and every restaurant was full.  They finally decided on Appleby’s and although it was crowded they went inside to put their name on the wait list for a table.  After waiting thirty minutes or more, they were finally shown to a booth.  While they were waiting, they had ample opportunity to watch the tables of the other diners, as well as to see other patrons who were entering or leaving the restaurant.  Not long after they were seated,  three teenagers (two girls and a boy)  approached their booth.   Walking up to the table, they formed a protective like half circle around my daughter, looking directly at her.  They seemed not to notice my grandaughter or my sister.

TREASURES IN JARS OF CLAY AND BREAD FROM HEAVEN

The first one to speak was  the boy.  He said, “we’re on a treasure hunt”.  My daughter  looked at them thinking “okaaaaay” expecting that after saying this,  he would elaborate a little further by asking for a paperclip, a rubber band or some other obscure item people are usually looking for when they are on treasure hunts.  But, he didn’t say anything else.   Then one of the girls said, “my friend, said she was having ‘hunger pains’ and she said she heard you say, you were’ hungry.’    Are you in pain?”  My daughter says she remembers  thinking what a strange  conversation this was,  for one thing, they had been observing the restaurant for over 30 minutes and had never seen this trio of teenagers until now.  My daughter also said, she could not recall saying,  “I’m hungry” and even if she had said it, how close would these people had to have been to her  in a noisy and crowded restaurant to  over hear her say, “I’m hungry”.    All of the sudden, my daughter said she was struck with the realization  that whoever these people were, they were there for her.   When the girl asked if she were in pain, her eyes filled with tears and she said, “Well, I am going through a divorce.”   The girl then said,” can I pray for you?”    They then all joined hands and the girl prayed a very long and beautiful prayer on my daughters behalf.   As she was praying tears were falling from both my daughter and my sister.    When she had finished praying, the boy then said, “I have a vision of Jesus kneeling by your side”.  The girl then addressed my daughter, she said, “I sense you have a barrier up (in regard to trusting Jesus) you need to let it down.  Jesus loves you and  will take care of you”.  Without saying anything more, the teenagers  left the table and walked out of the restaurant.   They never introduced themselves and they never said that they were from any church or organization.  They also were never seen approaching another table regarding a treasure hunt.  And,  no one in the immediate vicinity of their table seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary happening,  five people praying and two women crying!

DIVINE APPOINTMENTS

When my daughter called me to tell me what happened, I noticed right away the  tone of her voice had changed  and I could sense a new found peace and joy in her life. An amazing thing had happened.   God had not changed her circumstances, but, He had changed her!

AN ORDINARY FRIDAY, AN EXTRORDINARY GOD

In thinking about this, I am reminded of the promise in Psalm 23 – “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me“.  And doesn’t this make all the difference, knowing, really knowing that when we put our trust in Jesus as our Savior, we belong to him and He has promised, by His word, that He will never leave us nor forsake us!  How precious this promise!  How much peace we should have knowing how very much God cares.    In the scripture, we are told that we are his treasure, his workmanship in Christ Jesus.  Of course He cares for us, He gave His life for us!    And every now and then, our God works overtime to gives us an extra special glimpse of just how wonderful that is!