God-Sightings
Friday, September 7, 2007
It's amazing how simple connections with people can lift my spirits. This morning, I blogged about my grief and desperation. Within an hour or so of writing, Stacy and Mark--dear friends of ours from Chicago--called. We haven't talked to them (other than through Christmas cards) for about a year. They were calling to let us know that Mark started a new job this week, and that he's in the Mpls area for a portion of his training. He wants to get together! This is one of Rich's best fishing buddies, and also Sean (our youngest son's) godfather.
I took down Mark's cell number for Rich, and chatted with Stacy at length. It's uncanny how much their lives in this past year have paralleled ours. Mark was laid off in July of 2006 and just started a job this last week. They're trying to recover from an entire 12 months of unemployment. Stacy confided some of the particulars of their situation and it was almost the mirror-image of our own financial journey.
It was such a gift to talk to her. The gift is not in knowing that they, too, are financially desperate. It was simply a blessing to finally feel understood by someone who has walked the same road. Not much had to be said. One of us would start a sentence, and the other would immediately "get it," totally aware of how awful things can get. With Mark's switch to a new job (which ironically is working as a professional driver --also the same as Rich) they are hoping to start digging themselves out of a deep financial hole. Stacy said, "It's our goal to be simply breathing before the new year." Man can I relate!
The phone call boosted my spirits. I still shed more tears throughout the day, but I had definitely experienced a "God-sighting" so to speak.
Then, just before 1:30 pm, I started dragging energy-wise--and Sean (who had napped early because of a cold virus) was raring to go. I laid him down in vain, praying that somehow he'd take a second nap. I knew I was probably delusional, but I needed divine intervention. I sat down in my blue overstuffed chair and prayed, "Lord, how am I going to make it through the next two hours?" Instantaneously, (no kidding), the phone rang. It was my friend Rayna, who I haven't talked to in weeks! We usually talk more frequently, but she's a school teacher and with the start of a new season, she's been super busy. Today was her day off, so she called to go for a walk. MERCY FROM GOD! She picked Sean and I up, and we went to the Minnesota Arboretum where we walked and talked in the healing beauty of nature until it was time to pick up our school-age kids.
The day is now coming to a close, and within this 12-hour period it's amazing that I have written two posts that seem antithetical:
Desperation
and
God Sightings.
I think the connection between the two is called GRACE.
I took down Mark's cell number for Rich, and chatted with Stacy at length. It's uncanny how much their lives in this past year have paralleled ours. Mark was laid off in July of 2006 and just started a job this last week. They're trying to recover from an entire 12 months of unemployment. Stacy confided some of the particulars of their situation and it was almost the mirror-image of our own financial journey.
It was such a gift to talk to her. The gift is not in knowing that they, too, are financially desperate. It was simply a blessing to finally feel understood by someone who has walked the same road. Not much had to be said. One of us would start a sentence, and the other would immediately "get it," totally aware of how awful things can get. With Mark's switch to a new job (which ironically is working as a professional driver --also the same as Rich) they are hoping to start digging themselves out of a deep financial hole. Stacy said, "It's our goal to be simply breathing before the new year." Man can I relate!
The phone call boosted my spirits. I still shed more tears throughout the day, but I had definitely experienced a "God-sighting" so to speak.
Then, just before 1:30 pm, I started dragging energy-wise--and Sean (who had napped early because of a cold virus) was raring to go. I laid him down in vain, praying that somehow he'd take a second nap. I knew I was probably delusional, but I needed divine intervention. I sat down in my blue overstuffed chair and prayed, "Lord, how am I going to make it through the next two hours?" Instantaneously, (no kidding), the phone rang. It was my friend Rayna, who I haven't talked to in weeks! We usually talk more frequently, but she's a school teacher and with the start of a new season, she's been super busy. Today was her day off, so she called to go for a walk. MERCY FROM GOD! She picked Sean and I up, and we went to the Minnesota Arboretum where we walked and talked in the healing beauty of nature until it was time to pick up our school-age kids.
The day is now coming to a close, and within this 12-hour period it's amazing that I have written two posts that seem antithetical:
Desperation
and
God Sightings.
I think the connection between the two is called GRACE.
