There was a season in my life, which all people can experience, where I felt a deep sense of depression. We had just experienced another move to the northwest. Nothing was wrong really, but I was experiencing a type of grieving. When you move from one area of the country to another, it involves more than just packing boxes and transporting your possessions to a new locale. You are leaving the “known” for the “unknown.” You are leaving well-established friendships. It’s so like transplanting greenery in your garden. After a plant is exposed and deposited into new soil, it looks droopy and out of sorts for several months. Well, that was my condition!
This particular day was rainy and very overcast. The sky resembled a collage of grey cloudy gloom. Even having more lights on in our home didn’t help. So, I thought some fresh air might assist raising me to a higher emotional altitude.
I missed so many people, and the many loving responsibilities in ministry I had with others. Now, I was alone this day. My husband was off to work. I headed out the door with sweater and rain gear.
I didn’t even feel like talking, but the Lord knows our “thoughts” just as clear as our spoken words. On this walk I was reminiscing in my mind about the many changes and adjustments my husband and I were facing because of this move.
There was a cute little cul-de-sac that I would often venture to in my previous walks. The leaves it seemed were adorning themselves in a crayon of colors.
I had just turned the corner into this secluded area and I noticed a large pile of freshly cut grass. Something caught my attention. I went over and there on top of the freshly cut grass were two long stem red roses. These were “freshly cut” roses.
I couldn’t believe it. I glanced around thinking someone has just laid these roses on top of all the grass clippings for a moment and forgot to pick them back up. I waited around and no one appeared. This pile of grass clippings was not in a well-traveled location. It was odd.
Then, as God would have it, He brought to my mind all that I had been thinking about and the sadness I had in missing people, etc. My heart just leapt for joy as the thought was presented to me, deep within my heart, “these were roses from God.” He knew just how to touch my heart and my life on that walk to remind me that He cared, and that He knew all about this transition.
I slowly leaned over to pick up the two roses and I hurried home. One rose I kept in a vase. The other rose I pressed and placed it behind glass which was in a delicate gold frame. The date was November 24, 2005. This gift brought a “tender anticipation” of hope that good things were ahead, and to leave God to order the events of the coming year.
Four and a half months later I had the “joy of my life” when my Mother, who needed daily care, came to live out her remaining years with us in our home.
I’m grateful God gave me the presence of mind to “seal the rose under glass” as a vivid reminder of his tender and compassionate care through the stresses and transitions in our lives. Each time I look at this framed rose, my heart goes back to the time when God’s love came near….near enough to hold in my hand.
Published by Dianne Horne
I can’t think of anything I enjoy more than to see lives changed! There’s nothing more that puts “oxygen and joy” into my life than to bring the application of Scripture into the “shoe leather” of our lives and to share it with others.
I feel awkward speaking about myself, but I understand it can be helpful to enable others to relate to and enjoy the work of our Lord does in other people. Another down-to-earth way of sharing who I am, is that I love to eat, laugh and to talk about the Lord. I’m not a very exciting individual, but my Savior sure is!
I’ve been happily married for many years, and I now reside in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. God has transplanted my husband and I 28 times in our years together; and it is only when in His presence that you can ask the “why questions” as to the adjustments He’s brought us “to” and “through” in the numerous locations and countries we have lived.
God’s care, love, forgiveness, faithfulness and moment-by-moment presence has not only carried me (when I had every reason to fall apart), but lifted me to a joy I’ve never known. There’s one thing to have joy when things are going great, and quite another dimension of joy and peace when everything in your world is crumbling and unknown. Most of our lives will appear like “ordinary oatmeal living”, but when we allow Him to “establish our steps”, He alone takes our mundane acts of kindness or aid and makes them “extraordinary” for His purpose in the lives of others.
The seasons of caring for my parents and the associated grieving process has forever changed me. It was my honor, joy and privilege to participate with my Lord in what He was accomplishing in their lives, as they both gave their lives to Jesus Christ just days before they were escorted into His presence in heaven. The medical challenges and decisions that needed to be made for a number of those years thrust me into a trust and dependence upon the Lord that I had never known up to that point in my life.
In my journey, I’ve come to realize that our “weakness” is our greatest “strength”, because real power, provision, and His purpose being carried out in and through our lives, depends on Him orchestrating such through His sovereignty.
My “heartbeat of fulfillment” lies in sharing with women, in various settings, helping them to enjoy, study and apply the principles of God’s Word in a down-to-earth fashion. I thrive interacting with women and encouraging them to put their trust in the One Who knows them best and loves them extravagantly; and to prioritize “spending time alone with God each day” developing their relationship with Him. Our lives aren’t designed to just get answers to prayer….but to know and love a very personal Savior, and to surrender daily to “His plans, His agenda and purpose” for our lives.
Several years ago I was challenged to respond to a critical question I had never considered: Why do you exist? What’s your purpose in life?
I live to bring an expression of God in the ordinary events of life, seizing every opportunity of serving and delighting in others. I want my life to be an infectious expression of His love for others, and for them to know how special “they are” to Him; and thus be contagious with His grace.
My life compass is: After people spend time with me, what do they think of Jesus Christ?
The stories that will appear in my blog, are true events that have taken place in my journey. They’re all “very ordinary” circumstances that have occurred through sharing them with Jesus and watching Him orchestrate and demonstrate what He can do when we yield “our ordinary” to the Extraordinary One.
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