Digressions: February 14th Memory

This is a true story. My husband died in November 1999. On the following Valentine's Day an interesting thing happened.

On the morning of February 14, 2000, without even realizing what day it was, I stepped into the garage to do a load of clothes. For no reasonable explanation I can give there was a greeting card envelope lying face down in front of the washer.

I picked it up and turned it over. It had red hearts on the front of it and it had "Brenda" written on it in my husband's handwriting. For a second or two, my heart raced because the card's envelope appeared to be brand new in spite of the fact that the day was humid and the garage floor was wet. With my hands shaking and my breath coming in shallow gulps, I opened the card. I read it and I realized it was the card my husband gave me on Valentine's Day 1999.

I never questioned how it got there or why it was there. I am sure there are many reasonable explanations for it. The fact remains that it was miraculous to me because of the perfect timing.

After I read it, I had a good little cry, and then I thanked God for the message I felt it delivered to me. Finally, I put the card away in a plastic shoebox where I kept Gary's glasses, his city manager's badge, our wedding picture and a couple of other little things that memorialized our relationship.

This is a wonderful little event that will be ever in my memory. It's been five years since I found that re-cycled card while I was doing the laundry. I took it out this morning and looked at it. I am still grateful for it.

I don't believe in the dead communicating with those who are still living. But, I do believe that God was involved in the perfect timing of the delivery of my recycled Valentine's Day card. Perhaps it had been lying there for days and I had not noticed it. Who knows.

The fact is that I found it on Valentine's Day after Gary died. I'll never forget finding the card that morning. Never.

The message I got from this strange little event is that God knew my sorrow, but rather than let me mope that day and reflect on the loneliness I could have felt, He allowed me something else far more exciting and compelling to muse upon...something that would supercede feeling sorry for myself...something that would keep me busy trying to figure out how it could have happened.

Do I think that God has enough time or that He cares enough to arrange things like this for a middle-aged gal in Texas? You bet I do.

This event is still powerfully etched in my mind and it always will be. In fact, it's Valentine's Day again in 2005 and I expect great things from this day. Not just because it's Valentine's Day, but because I have learned that I can, and I should expect miracles and good things from life.

God's got my life in His hands and He's the one who is in control. He's made miracles for me before and He'll do so again.

This morning, as I write this, I am reminded of my sister and a verse in Psalms 118--a verse my sister reflects upon every morning when she goes to work, and through which she daily expresses her gratefulness to God for another sunrise:

"This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24