When I left off the last part of this story, I had shared with you about my Angel here on earth and his name was John.....the Coffee Man! Chris and I talked about the prospect of Chelsea and I going back to Honduras for three weeks. I went to Tony Hewett and told him the story and I let him know that Chelsea and I were seriously thinking about signing up, but that we needed to make sure that I was really going to get the coffee.....after all.....it was almost unbelievable. Tony told me, "Well, you and Chelsea have 800.00 in your missions account!" What???? How?????? Are you kidding me????? You see......God had laid it on a certain individuals heart that there was someone else who was going to go......but He did not tell this person who it was. I found out later that this person thought it was someone else at first, but God put us in that spot! Wow......Coffee coming.....1/4 of the way paid for both of us......how in the world could we doubt? I talked to Chelsea about it some more and she decided that her summer school schedule was going to be very tight and it would not be possible for her to go. I got the coffee hand delivered to my house by one very special human angel and this made my heart rejoice.....NOW I knew for sure I could go! I went back to Tony and told him I was going for sure but that Chelsea would not get to go. My automatic assumption was that if she did not go, I would only get half of the money. Tony told me very quickly that all of the money would stay in the account! Really???? Half of my way was paid! I had not asked one single person for money! Immediately upon finding out, my parents gave me a sum of money and one other person from Chriss work did too......now my passport that had to be expedited ....was paid for! I started selling coffee and it went a little slow, but it was going! I booked my ticket in faith that God would supply the other half of the money. Now, because I was getting in late on the deal, I had to fly with a layover while the rest of the group flew direct......which was no problem....GOD had a plan! I was talking to my friend a few days after I booked the ticket and I was telling of the amazing things God was doing! I was asked how much I still needed to go and I explained that the sum would be 800.00. We talked and talked about all kinds of things and then hung up. Two days later.....a check for 800.00 was in my mailbox from my dear friend of 30 plus years! I immediately called and explained that I never expected that to be done! This beautiful person told me, "I know.......God told me to do it! It was my pleasure and my honor to do so!" They went on to tell me that it was their way of doing Gods work in Honduras! Again......I never asked.....I never even implied.....I fully expected the coffee to pay my way! Now you might think, "Praise God......that is the end of this story.....God is so good!" But no......it is not the end! Not only did He show up.....He showed out! I had another friend randomly give me 40.oo for expenses.....and then the biggie.....the week before I left.....a very special person who is a friend when it makes no sense to be a friend because of certain circumstances.......sent me a check for 200.00 which covered everything else I needed! Yet it still does not end......I was given money by two more people which gave me every dime of what I would need while I was in Honduras! Money for offerings at the churches.....food and drink at the gas stations......and so on. How on Gods beautiful green earth could I even question IF God wanted me to go?!! How could I ever deny that He had a plan and purpose for me to be there? I NEVER asked anyone for even a dime......and God provided every last dime! Oh me of so little faith! My world was upside down......and it was glorious! My faith muscle has been torn down and built back up! In order for God to show me what He wanted me to see......He had to break me down and humble me to the point that I could not even begin to explain! In the days to come.....I will tell you of the many ways that He started building my faith up! I have to tell you too.....this is one muscle I am going to keep working out and building up! I may have had a small set back with not getting the job that I knew had been tailor made for me...but my faith is still strong and I am NOT going to let doubt and rejection slow me down! God has a plan......I just have to close my eyes and look up to HIM! He will show me when, where, how and what I am to do! I HAVE FAITH! May God bless you and I pray
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Today was a day that did not go as expected. I finally got the story of Mr. May written and I was going to go and get the next part of the story. When I arrived at the Hospital I went straight to Mr. Mays room to let him know I would be coming by soon to visit and get his story for today. As I walked in, it was very quiet. Mr. May was asleep so I talked to Terri, the beautiful woman who sits with him during the day, and she said he had been quite tired today. I told her I would be back in about an hour to see how he was doing. I went to visit a few of my patients and I was standing up front writing my reports when I saw Terri leaving for the day. I asked her how he was doing and she said she believed he was going to sleep the rest of the day. He was really tired and not quite feeling up to par. I told Terri that I would just stop in and quietly visit with him as he slept.......more for me than for him at this point. I visited two more patients and proceeded on to Mr. Mays room. As I walked in, I saw his eyes crack open and he gave me that wonderful smile that just makes my day. I whispered to him that I was not going to stay so he could sleep. He told me that he would love for me to stay, so I came on in and we had a very unique visit! I let him know that I had finished the rest of his story up to the point of him having a desk across from the very beautiful future Mrs. May. He was so funny.....he proceeded to ask me if he was on the internet again and when I told him he was......his smile got even bigger! I asked him if he would like me to read it to him and he said, "OH YES!". As I read the story, he was so wide eyed and attentive to each and every detail. I could almost see him reliving his past in those few moments of time when I was reading it to him. There was such great joy, not only for Mr. May, but for me. How did I become so blessed to experience these little moments in time that fill my heart to capacity? In a second, Mr. May went from great joy....to great sadness. His eyes filled with tears and his face was covered with a look of failure. My heart went from elation, to a great sinking sensation. He then said to me, "I am so sorry, I have nothing for you today!" His voice was riddled with the sound of guilt......and I was quickly feeling his crushing sadness. I was very quick to tell him that there was no need for sadness! I have been covered up with pictures and writing, job searching and grandchildren! I let him know that he has so much to give! I told him that he was giving more than he knew.....every single day to so many people! This is when I felt that I had to let him know exactly what he does for me every time I come to see him. I'll be honest, I don't know exactly word for word what I said, because it was God speaking through me to Mr. May. It went something like this, "Mr. May........God has a purpose for your life and you have so much still left to give! Every time I walk in your room I am overwhelmed by the love in your smile! Your eyes amaze me because they are filled with such great expression! When we visit my heart is full because you bring me great joy through the history of your life! God has blessed me beyond measure with the honor of knowing you! Everyone who walks through that door gets the same smile and bright eyes.......and it is a blessing! You are a blessing!" As I finished what I was saying, his tear filled eyes looked deep into my eyes and he told me thank you. I said, "You see Mr. May, you did have something for me! Your story will still be here when I come next time, but this time........God had another plan!" I asked him if it would be ok if I shared this today and he said, "Yes.......please do!". He was so funny....he gave me one request.......and it blew me away. He told me to write that he told me he loved me! Not the kind of love that some might think, but the love that comes from being given hope, purpose, and perspective. I think that what he saw.......was the love of Christ for him! God gave those words of encouragement and purpose to Mr. May as a gift of love for him! I may have been the mouth piece, but God was the giver! One thing that has so impressed me with Mr. May......is the love that he has for people, but the one who he loves the most here on earth.......is his beautiful wife! When I go to visit him again, we will be going over the next adventure in his life.......and that is the beginning of the love story between he and Mrs. May! Whenever he talks about her, his whole countenance just lights up! I hope and pray that when the day comes and Chris and I have been together for 60 years.....that we will both light up like Mr. May does for his bride! I am also excited to tell you that when I do write again......I have some incredibly beautiful wedding pictures to share with you all that I took with my phone from their wedding album! May God bless you all........and God willing, when we meet again......a living history will come to l .......and on we go! (better late than never!) Every day Mr. May would go to the 38th floor of this magnificent building and walk straight to the mail room! This is a job that he would have for about a year. I asked Mr. May if he liked working in the mail room and he replied, "Oh yes, this is where the pretty girls were!" After working in the mail room, Mr. May was transferred to the Lubrication Department. I have to tell you, this was not his favorite job with the company.......as a matter of fact......he had a boss there that was a bit difficult to work with. In the Lubrication Department Mr. May would keep track of when the ships would come into port so they could be serviced and fueled up. He would then give the info to the Marine Department. I asked him if he liked this job and well.....lets just say he sorta plead the fifth! His boss was not the most easy person to get along with.......and we will just leave it at that! Mr. May was then given the chance to work for the Big Boss! Gopher Boy.....This is what Mr. May called himself as he talked about his new position working as an assistant of the Vice President of Marketing! This was one job that he REALLY liked! This job, that he apparently did quite well at, lead to him then being the assistant in the Presidents office! The Presidents office was half moon shaped and it sat at the end of the building. The VP and the secretary had an office here as well and Mr. May was the "Gopher Boy" for all of them. He found this to be really neat because he would get to go with them to the airport in the stretch limo! The President would tell him to sit on the passenger side and help with the baggage. He then would help them as they navigated through the airport. As Mr. May was talking to me about his time in this position, he just kept a smile planted on his face. His eyes were wide and there was great joy in his countenance.......there is no wonder he did so well at what he was assigned to do! After a few more years, Mr. May was transferred to the Film Library in Brooklyn. This was where they kept the educational films, primarily about oil and the exploration of oil. They also had a series on how the Airplane flew. These were all educational films that had been sponsored by Shell Oil and they were available for anyone to use. It was mostly Colleges and Universities on a "Loan" basis. When the films were returned they had to be run back on a machine.......remember, these were films that came on a REEL like they have in movie theaters! This was Mr. Mays job. He would run them back and see if there were any damages to the movies or flaws such as cuts and tears that needed fixing. He would then repair the movies by hand splicing the film. In his job, he would also help oversee the Library. After two years, he was then promoted to Manager of the film library! As we talked about all of this, he then interjected, "This was my day job!". Day job???? It just so happens that the good ole days of the ice cream parlor, well they continued on into his life as his NIGHT JOB! After his time at the Film Library, oh and by the way, there were 4 different Film Libraries across the country......he was moved back to the main building where he started on the 38th floor. Well guess what........Mr. May was now over ALL 4 LIBRARIES!!!! In his new job, he would travel to each of the Libraries and keep track of each of them and how they were doing. Mr. May was definitely a blessed man who worked hard! Now is when his life took a turn that would affect his life forever........his desk......it was directly across from the most beautiful and wonderful woman he had ever met........the future, Mrs. May! Stay tuned because I am going today to get the continuation of this story! May God bless you all!!!! Before I tell you about the day that God turned my world upside down.....let me tell you what lead up to that day. God has greatly blessed my life in so many ways. He has given me my dream house which sometimes can be a nightmare for Chris since it is 103 years old. The window over the sink in the kitchen has needed replacing since we moved in 6 years ago. We decided to go to a certain store in Athens and see what it would cost for a new window. Normally we would go to the one in Monroe, but we had other errands to run in Athens this particular day. Now you may be asking yourself....What the Cathair does this have to do with turning your world upside down? (well.......that is how my hubby would say it....jejejejeje) While we were at this store, we set up a visit with a man to come and measure the window and give us an estimate. The next week we got a call from a representative and he came out to our house. Little did we know that God had a plan that we never saw coming when a man named John came to our door. From the moment he said, "Hello!", we knew something was different about him. We immediately formed a connection with him, and he with us. What happened after hello still has us sitting in awe. We spent 4 hours talking and only about an hour of it was about the window and possible siding. After our visit, we were both feeling as if maybe God had sent an Angel to our home. I would love to go into detail, but it might turn into a book! The long and short of it is that as we were talking about the window, we kept getting off subject and finally John said something about Honduras. HONDURAS??????? We started to talk about Honduras and John told us that somehow he knew we had deep ties......he could feel it in our hearts. He told us the story of how God had tied him to Honduras and we sat listening in utter awe. If ever there was a story that needed to be documented....his was one of them! John proceeded to tell me that if I wanted to go again, he would give me some coffee to sell to earn my way. (the coffee story is a humdinger! I will have to get him to give me his testimony on this so he can share it with you.....I would not be able to do it justice!) I cannot tell you what God did in both mine and my husbands heart that day. There is only one other person that I have seen Chris get so involved in listening to and that was brother Bob who started the mission in Honduras! Just a few months before, Chris had told me that there was no way I would be able to go back to Honduras for at least a couple of years........so I had resigned myself to not going. To say this day was a miracle would be a complete understatement! When John left, Chris and I literally sat and looked at each other wondering if what had just happened was real! I found myself asking how he could have possibly known about Honduras? We had no pictures up, nothing indicating we had ever been there..........but what we did have, was a love for a place and many people that connected with someones heart that had the same passion! I would be lying if I told you I had no doubts about what had happened..........if I told you that I was thinking that somehow this had to be a scam (because that is what we are conditioned to think in the world we live in)..........my mind at this point was blown! BUT GOD!!!!! BUT GOD in the weeks to come would show Himself over, and over, and over again! I found out how weak my faith had become. I found out how much of my life was spent in doubt and disbelief of what God can and will do. After all.......this only happens to other people..........right? I am going to close out this story for the night but tomorrow I will share with you how God showed Himself to me in a really big way! May God bless you........and I can't wait to share more with you tomorrow! |
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