Meet Hitchie!!
Everyone pretty much knows my work schedule and the fact I seldom get home before what I like to call "dark a thirty". The shop is basically two full time jobs. Dresses, formal wear, deliveries by day; balloon and party decor creating by night. Believe me when I say it takes both of them to stay afloat in this time we live in of small business.
Every year about this same time I am always seemingly at a crossroads and with a lot of choices to make. Each year it seems as if the pressure is taken up a notch or two. All of my friends locally and even my friends on Facebook who I open up to can all tell you I have relied on them with their advice and prayers the last few weeks, months, and years. I have poured out my heart and gotten so much confirmation about the same "thing" from each of them. Each of them not knowing what the others were saying. Even told one "you sure you haven't hacked my phone because this is exactly what another friend said." Each and every single one of them know how thankful I am for them and their never ending and nonjudgmental friendship!
Let me be totally honest. It sure wasn't always sugarcoated advice and direction from my friends. It was not always something that I liked to hear. I mean several times I had my friend Denise Arnett Burkett who is a pastor's wife and a pastor herself tell me "you may hate me after this but I feel like God is saying......" cause it wasn't coming from "thus says her", it was a true on-time word and God was stepping on my toes just to see how much I trusted Him. God was scolding me because I knew and wasn't doing what I knew to do in these circumstances. He had already spoken things to me and I hadn't obeyed them... Then she comes along and confirms what He had already told me to do... I may or may not have tucked my tail a time or two.
Yesterday was a slower day at the shop and with balloon deliveries. I was done by 3ish and had a 4 p.m. appointment coming in for a groomsmen bridal party. A couple of days ago, I had bought a new scented tart air freshener and I decided to try it out. It was close to 3:30 when I put it in the wax tart warmer. Besides inheriting my looks from my Mama, I also was "blessed" with her allergies to certain scents and other allergens. Insert the most sarcastic "thanks Mom" eye roll you can imagine here.... but I love you!!! By the time the customers left, I could already tell my chest was tightening up. Breathing was different. My sinuses were on fire. It was like I had swallowed mini razor blades. Then the dreaded sinus headache meets migraine which puts me out for the count. So I headed north to the house.
A quick stop by the Broxton Dollar General (Broxton Wal-Mart) for some Excedrin. Since it was daylight, I stopped by the cemetery to visit Daddy's grave. It seems like I can pour out a lot of my heart and mind when I am there. Then on to the house.
Took the side road because I had seen the irrigation system across the highway on full blast and wanted to sneak in a few photos. Yes, if you haven't figured out, I am a country girl thru and thru. Then I noticed the patch of yellow flowers. I got some photos of them as I was sitting inside the truck. They were pretty and I decided to get out of the truck to play with the irrigation system in the background of the photos. Got back in the truck, looked down, and saw a weird piece of glass. Got back out and picked it up to observe it a little more. Off to the house I went.
As I was pulling off, I happened to glance back and see a 2.5" face sitting on the side of the road staring back at me from the ditch. A hitchhiker of sorts. It was propped up with a tree branch. He was approximately the length of my Yukon and cargo trailer behind me as I had already passed him. I immediately grabbed my camera, of course, to take photos to document the bear's little 6" stuffed cute self! Then I got out with my cell phone to get some shots of him up close. Surely, he belonged to someone close by so I was literally going to take the picture and just post it to Facebook so the owner could properly claim him. That is when I noticed his necklace had a dove charm on it so I just smiled because I knew it was meant for me to find him. Then I noticed his left paw had the Philippians 4:5 monogrammed into it so I was like okay Lord, here is my sign... I literally sat in the middle of the road and googled the verse to see what it said. I totally had an ah-ha moment and a thank you Jesus praise break on the dirt road in my truck!
Quoting from www.biblehub.com in the New Living Translation:
Philippians 4:5
"Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon."
Considerate...
I have always kinda thought of myself as a considerate person. Merciful. Compassionate. Generous spirit. Kindness. Courteous. I try to be as Godly as I can to represent Him well. I am not perfect by any means whatsoever. I have my faults just as much as the next person. I will be the first to admit it and shout it from the rooftops. However, I try to keep my character and integrity in tune with my Christian walk. I stumble along the way. He is always gracious and merciful enough to forgive us.
The Lord is coming soon...
We have all heard all of our lives about the rapture and the Lord is coming soon. It is closer than we think. We are in the last days. But today, sitting here typing out this blog post, I got a whole new revelation of what this means to me for my right now situation. I may be faced with problems. Decisions I need to make. "Things" I need to do. Currently worried about how "I", me, all by myself, no one else is going to help me make these choices. I have the confirmation that in my decisions, in my valley, in my trial times... The Lord is coming soon to help me out of my situation and to help me make the rights paths He is going to layout before me. I just have to seek His face and to seek His will for the answers I am needing.
I text a couple of friends "Okay the situation that I am in and feel like I am drowning... That God is a bazillion miles away... I know the scripture is probably talking about the rapture but my whole revelation I just got is that God's coming soon to answer the prayer. He's going to show up in His time to meet the needs and the prayers I have." They both confirmed this as well.
Philippians 4: 5 ties right into Psalm 34:18... I am sharing from www.biblehub.com again...
Psalm 34:18
"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those whose spirits are crushed."
He is close. He is near. He is on the way. He is coming soon.
Brokenhearted. Crushed spirit. Empty. Alone. Stressed. Overwhelmed. Exhausted. Worthless. Disconnected. Inadequate.
Yeah, let me be real honest, those are all the feelings I can say have described me the past few months. I am an open book and I don't mind sharing so it can help someone else. I mean, what I present myself as on Facebook is not always the happy go lucky side of me. We all hide our true emotions because we are afraid of what someone else might think or say about us if they knew the real life situations we were going thru.
The Greek translation to Philippians 4:5 is "the Lord is near". He is near. He is close by. He is there to help you. He is that comforter when we are broken. We have to rely on and trust in Him and His timing. It is hard to do especially for me because with me being a business owner, I control the situations at the shop. I don't delegate and turn things over for others to do. But this is one area I am going to have to learn to "let loose and let God" handle by trusting in Him even more.
The Dove Charm
We all know in the story of Noah and the flood, God used a dove to be the messenger that brought back the olive branch and a sign that life was growing again after the flood. The dove represents peace. It is also a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The fact the bear was wearing a dove charm on his necklace lets me know everything is going to work out like it should. The Holy Spirit being represented to remind me God is the peace speaker in our times of trouble, of doubt, of worry. The dove charm was my confirmation of this being a message from God about what I can't see beyond the water that is surrounding my boat right now. This little bear was a true messenger from God to be my reminder.
This also reminds me of the blog I posted last year about the flowers... "Beauty in the Ditch"... I found my little bear on the side of the road in the ditch. He is dirty. If you shake him, red clay dirt will fall out. Even when we are our lowest. When we feel dirty and not worthy because we have not done what He has instructed us to do. He is right there in the spot where we left Him when we took the wrong road. All we have to do is make a U-Turn to get everything back on track into His perfect will and plans for our lives.
I challenge you to read all of Philippians 4 and Psalm 34. These two chapters in Scripture show how God answered the prayers of those who prayed and sought out His help. They are proof He did it before and won't He do it all again!
Today, I can look back and be thankful for the migraine made me go home early from work. I had all intentions of staying late yesterday to get ready for this week's events. But had I not went home, I would not have gotten an on time message intended just for me as I was looking back behind me riding down the road in the form of a little teddy bear that represents so much more. This morning was a new morning. A new start with new meaning and purpose. Thankful to know I personally have a direct connection to The Peace Speaker!
#faith #encouragement #Philippians #Psalm #FaithJewels #Dove #Windiism
