Skip to main content

Your Promises Remain

To tell this story, I would need to back up to Christmas 2017. I was still going to my previous church then, and had really felt God pulling me to help out with Angel Tree. Angel tree was an outreach that helped kids get gifts for Christmas. This program didn't need me at all. They had plenty of volunteers. Nonetheless I felt God pushing me to ask. I reached out to the coordinator and asked to be involved with all of it. She gave me some lists with names and I made some calls. I remember talking to a woman who told me all about her brother's story. See it was her nephew that was to receive a gift. It could have been my brother's story. It really touched my heart. I thought God must have wanted me to see the need in a new way.
I reached out to the coordinator and let her know I really wanted to do every part of the angel tree. I won't go into details except to say that I didn't get to be a part of anything else that involved angel tree because I didn't live close enough. I was very upset. I was very confused. Why would God have put this in my heart to serve in this outreach and then shut me out? I prayed on it, slept on it, and then threw my hands up. Fine God. I don't see what your point was, but you are God and I am not.
I told God that I wasn't going to ask to be part of angel tree the next year. Then something happened. The coordinator left the church to go help out at another. I still didn't say a word to anyone. I got an email from the pastor. He asked me if I would consider being coordinator of angel tree! I was scared because I didn't get to be involved much the year before, so I didn't know what to do, but I was mostly excited about the blessing. This must have been God's plan! He must have put it in my heart because He wanted me to do it the next year! Another twist was around the corner that would throw me into confusion all over again.
A few months after I accepted the role of angel tree coordinator, God was leading me out of that church. That was one of the most confusing times of my life. I chose to trust God and follow, even when I had no idea what His plans were. I was very sad when I had to give up angel tree, but if I was going to follow God elsewhere, I had to be all in. I remember just asking over and over what sense it made. How can all of this work out to me giving up a blessing that I was sure came from the Lord? I chose to have faith that no matter the outcome, it was God's perfect answer.
I officially became a member of Trinity Chapel on November 11th, and was asked on November 12th to take over their giving tree! I couldn't believe it! I should have known better. God doesn't take away blessings. God's character is consistent, no matter what my situation is! James 1:17 says "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." God is changeless. He is faithful to His promises. Looking back on the whole thing now, I am in complete awe. You see when God put it in my heart to volunteer for angel tree, He had plans for me that I couldn't see. He already knew I would be in a new church that needed someone to coordinate it. All I needed to do was follow Him. All we ever need to do is follow Him.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Happily Ever After

              I remember the day we got married. I was beautiful, dressed in white. My gorgeous groom standing at the end of the aisle. Our forever waiting on the other side of 'I Do'. I didn't even hesitate. I was never more sure of anything in my life. This man was for me. Fairy tales don't always have a happy ending. I blinked. I'm in a courtroom with that same man, before a magistrate. The best thing we ever did, standing between us, tiny hands tucked into ours, as we dissolve our family.  I regret more than anything that I didn't think ahead and get a sitter. Instead, I let my daughter witness the destruction I was trying to protect her from. I waited until I was alone, then I cried for my daughter. For the consequences my choices would have on her life. For how my decision would shape her as a person. For the family I ripped from her.              Divorce is heavy. It affects my children, my witness, my family and friends. It even affects my relationship

Angel of Death

I have never wanted to be a nurse. My mother is a nurse and she put me up to it. I had a son and had no idea how to take care of him, and nursing would pay the bills. That's the honest beginning of my nursing career. I've been a nurse for over a decade now, and have worked many places. I once worked for a nursing home that had about 50 residents. There was a stretch there where every patient that passed away, did it on my shift. I got the nickname angel of death. I used to get offended when called that because no one wants to be associated with death. Ironically enough, I've been a hospice nurse for the last 7 years. For those of you who don't know, hospice simply means end of life care. I have listened to a heart, beat its last beat. I have held a persons hand while they took their last breath. I have read scripture to a preachers son as he went into the arms of Jesus. I have had the honor of being there for patients and families as they struggle to say goodbye to th

The Opposite of More

I was listening to a program that had the author of 'The Shack' speaking. He was talking about losing everything he owned and starting over. He said something that I wrote down because I thought it was  significant. He said 'the opposite of more, isn't less. The opposite of more, is enough'. I can admit that I struggle with that in my life. We live in a world where we are constantly told that we are less than, if we don't have everything other people have. We concentrate more on others' blessings, than our own. We scroll tirelessly on social media sites, envious of each other's houses, clothes, parenting, hair, personalities, talents, etc. We set up our own perfect pictures, removing any clutter from the photo, and instead, staging what looks to be an intimate hallmark moment. Then we filter it obsessively until it no longer even resembles real life. We make our children get in on the action too. Inadvertently teaching them that the way the world sees