God's mysterious ways.....

I believe I shared in a previous post that my hubby loved to watch the storms roll in......one stormy evening as we were watching the clouds churn and the weather change quickly we heard over the radio that there was a tornado spotted not too far from our home.....he directed me to get the kids onto the basement stairs. As I passed through our living room I saw a black truck with a camper/trailer being pulled behind it come down our road and park on the side, across from our house. I gathered the kids with their flashlights and let him know that it looked as if someone had pulled off the road to wait out the storm.

I saw him walk towards our front door and heard the door shut behind him.....about 5 mins later he returned, soaked and said that he had spoken to the couple and let them know that they could come in if they wanted shelter.

The storm eventually passed without any tornadic activity to our corner of the world out here and our evening continued on......this was about 2 springs ago that this occurred.

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Have I mentioned that I have found it difficult to sleep in our room? Well, I have and eventually after trying out other beds and even moving in a twin mattress into our room I ended up with our middle daughter in her room.

I have been advised by loved ones and by books that I have read not to make any major decisions for at least a year, I did make a decision last week - although I don't believe it was too major. I decided that I could not see myself ever sleeping again in our king-sized bed. I did think about it over a few days and tried to imagine myself in a different situation in our room, prayed about it and felt confident that yes, I was going to need to change where I slept. I also didn't want to wait too long as I am/was afraid I'd get too comfortable in my daughter's room and may never leave!! :o)

I went on the internet and read about Craigslist. Most people I know have had good outcomes with listing items on there especially since we live within an hour of the state capitol and are considered in that "area" when listing. I knew it would hit a lot of readers and potential buyers to list our bed on there. I listed it on a Friday and by Saturday had it sold with a pick up arrangement for the following Monday. I spoke with a woman by phone a few times, very kind woman and we worked out more specific arrangements with directions.

Monday evening came and this woman and her husband arrived in a truck that they had borrowed to do the delivery ...... I greeted her and introduced myself as she got out of the truck. After our brief introductions she said that she had been here before to our house and met my husband! She proceeded to tell me that she and her husband and young grand daughter had been on their way home from visiting their son in Colorado when they were caught in a bad storm. They were only about 20 minutes away from home but the wind was really picking up and the trailer they were pulling was really weaving so they pulled over onto our road. She said this tall man in a cowboy hat ran out the front door and told them that there had been a tornado sighted just a few miles away and would they like to come in and take shelter......they declined, thanked him and then he turned to the their little grand daughter and told her it would all be okay and that there was nothing to be afraid of, made his offer one more time and told them the front door would be open and jogged back into our house.

The woman looked at me quizzically as my eyes had filled with big tears and I'm sure grief and yet a smile was on my face. I told her that I was so happy to hear that she had met my husband and that I wasn't sure of her faith or belief in God, but that my husband had been taken home to be with Jesus just a couple of weeks ago and that yes, I did remember this happening but never knew exactly what he had said.

I discovered that this lovely woman is a fellow sister in Christ, her husband is a pastor not far from here and they live in our little city and out of all the potential people that read my ad and the distance it covered God lead them to read the post as they needed a king sized mattress for an antique bed set they had bought. And I had several responses but hers was the second one and the first decided against it. I shared with her how we lost him during Bible Study with the Word on his lips, how he was revived long enough to give me important messages. I was able to share how I knew this was God's plan, how God was carrying me through this time of loss, how faithful He was and how we both thought it incredible that He brought us in contact with one another at this moment over two years later.......Coincidence? I think not.......

I told her of my decision about the bed and that I'd be looking for a queen bed.....she said that was exactly what she had to get rid of and that they were going to bring their bed back over for me to have! Well, when she returned she brought with her a prayer shawl that had been made by a prayer group of ladies who crochets these beautiful blankets/shawls for people in crisis, to help them feel "hugged" or "embraced" by the love of God and people who had prayed over the person it was to go to. She came in and met my family, extending her condolences yet her belief and surety of where our Daddy/hubby was and how we would see them again....it gave us such a terrific sense of comfort to feel just how in control God is of our lives if we put Him first.

He never fails......He is faithful and we are just scratching the surface of how Great He is......what a comfort to hear of my husband's words to them....his kindess still being passed through and back to me.....his life still bearing fruit even in death.