When I was a little girl and felt bad or was ill, even though my parents barely had two nickels to rub together, somehow my Mom would find some little gift to brighten my spirits. Things varied from a handful of Spring Flowers she had picked and put in an Old Mason Jar-filled with Nourishing water to sit by my bed and help me find the will to smile and get better. If she had the chance, a quick trip might have been made to our local grocery store and she would bring me a nice new #2 Yellow Pencil and a writing tablet-so I could draw as I lay in bed, recovering from being sick and she would always remind me that God was watching over me. As these memories come to me, I feel a "warm glow" inside my heart- followed by an Ache-as my Mom & Dad are in Heaven, now watching over me and I miss them each day.
My dear husband has been struggling with repeated attacks of Gout-which puts him in severe Pain and on Crutches. My heart was filled with wanting to find a "feel good gift" for him and luck was with me as two very dear friends had invited me to join them for a special shopping trip. One was looking for the Dress to wear as she is the Mother of the Groom, and my other friend, Her Mom-looking for that special Outfit to express her love as Grandmother of the Groom-the wedding date is rapidly approaching and we were flying through the stores, looking at so many styles and designs. It was a wonderful day, filled with laughter and joy and we all knew these memories would stay with us forever.
We took time out to shop for a Wedding Gift to surprise the young couple with and found ourselves in a large Sporting Goods Store-with much to see but our mission was easy because the search was on for a special set of Binoculars-the Groom & Bride to be loves the outdoors, treasure camping and this would be a wonderful gift for them. Suddenly my eyes landed on a shiny new set of Binoculars and my heart soared as I knew this was the gift for my husband-he could hobble outside, sit at our patio and enjoy watching all the birds and flowers-a sign that Spring has arrived in this part of Texas. None of us had any idea that a "Spiritual Lesson was just seconds away from happening!
Two very nice young men worked in this department and seemed friendly and ready to answer all our questions. Conversation flowed easily among us as we learned one had been married almost two years and the other young man's Wedding Date to his "His Best Friend" was coming up soon, and we all smiled as he glowed and talked about how excited he was. I made the comment that my marriage was approaching 37 years next month and there was a look of shock on the young man's face who was so new in marriage. He asked me "How do you make that work?" His eyes told me this was a very serious question and it was important for me to speak from my heart- so I said "Marriage is Give and Take-lots of Patience is needed-Never go to Bed Angry-Talk your issues out-and above all, Look to God and Pray together!"
The other young man looked around, as if he was making sure nobody was watching and told us "I can say this because you said the word GOD-but we are not allowed to say that word or mention anything about Religion-if we do, we would lose our jobs!" We all stood there in shock-trying to take in this information and then he continued, "I love God and look to him each day of my life and always try to be at church on Sunday, thanking HIM for all my blessings!"
It was time for us to go pay for our goods and my loving Friend-The Grandmother- was having an amazing spirit-filled conversation with this young man who must struggle with working at a place where just a Word could take away his means of making a living. As we left and were driving down the road, each one of us lost in our thoughts, thinking about these young men, then realizing this probably happens all over the country and each day we see the results of Not speaking the name of God-our world is filled with such violence-people seem to be so lost in the daily process of life-forgetting to give thanks for the simple ability to live each day.
Once home, I gave my sweet husband his special gift and shared the events of my day-he listened intently-and drew so silent when I talked about this store prohibiting God's name being spoken by their employees. I knew many thoughts were in his heart but he summed it all up by saying "Martha-why did you make this purchase at a store who treats people this way?" Now I drew silent but my answer came easily- "Today I stood in the presence of two strong Christian Men-and it was a blessing for me. I knew the purchase would help them out as they make commissions-and I wanted to do something special to help you feel better and see a smile on your face!" No further words were needed as he picked up his new gift and gave me a loving smile.
At bedtime, I asked God to watch over these two young men as they continue their walk in life. I also prayed for the store owners-hoping they will begin to see how empty this world is without God in it. You never know when God will give us an education about his Name-I am thankful my heart was open as this was a lesson I will never forget. My Joy came by having just a few wonderful moments with these young men.
What a special outing you had. I love so much about this post. Your writing about what your mom would do for you touched me deeply. I love these glimpses into who you are Martha; into the ones who helped shape who you are. It blesses me to get to know them through your writings. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you blessed those two young men in more ways than you know. I do believe he gleened from your Wisdom and will go on thinking about your words. When he needs them, they will come back to him.
And you thought you were JUST going shopping! LOL...You were on assignment, dear Martha...on assignment...
Diane-
DeleteI must say that a simple shopping day did indeed turn into something very unexpected and yet-I came away from meeting those two young men and feeling very touched by their heart-felt Love of God. I do hope that some of my words will stay in their hearts-and remember some old lady telling them "you must give and take in your marriage!"
Bless you about the comments of my Mom-she did help me become the person I am. We had our ups and downs but I always loved her deeply and we found our way to Peace with each other. I can close my eyes are hear her laughter-she had a wonderful sense of humor and I do believe its been passed on my way. She also could get really angry when she saw injustice and would not hesitate to let people know her feelings. I have that in me too but try to use WORDS-praying my message is heard.
Thank you for this beautiful comment. I am truly moved.
Martha
Wow, Praise God, for this beautiful post, Martha. Indeed, choice of words, is so important but there are circumstances, God's name is hushed around, not declared to match His glory and power.
ReplyDeleteI know of Christians being tortured in India. Some missionaries suffer so much just to bring the Gospel to lost countries.
I am so thankful each day that here in the Philippines, we have the freedom to declare who God is in our lives and free to worship anywhere. I work with a "non-born-again" company. But they know about God and Jesus-the only difference from us is that they have religious icons. But I am still considered different.
This is a good lesson for us to declare God's love, whenever and wherever we can. More so in places where there is liberty to do so.
I too love the story behind the lesson.... about the gifts to make you feel good during illness, and for your husband to feel better with his painful gout. There are plenty of independent stories in this one post.
Lolita-
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing about other countries and it was heart-breaking to hear how people suffer-for their belief in God.
Sometimes we can almost become complacent here-and forget that Freedom is so much more than just a word. Thats why it was so shocking for me to learn that a store would fire a person for simply saying the word GOD.
I loved your comment about this blog having plenty of independent stories in it. My writing comes straight from my heart and I will admit, there are times when everything seems to run together. But-thats me and God bless you for reading my blog. I am humbled by your words and thankful to call you my friend.
All my blessings sent your way. Martha
I know deep inside, that when you write, it flows with the Holy Spirit, and out from your heart.
DeleteI was just clipping my comment because I have an incorrigible tendency to write back a "novel." He he he.... Maybe I had the urge to say something in all that I have gathered from this post. It does not make your writing jumbled or anything at all. There are times also that I keep running after one thought, then I loose it. But one thing is sure, I am always blessed with new insights every time. Thank you.
P.S.
Martha, reading from your posts, and on your comments in the blogs of our circle, I see you as one so much after Jesus' heart. You are so humble and your love for people shines in your words. I admire your inner strength and you exude peace above circumstances. Thank you, that in between the lines of your posts, I catch the person in you.
Blessings and warm thoughts from me to you. Lolita
Lolita-
ReplyDeleteWell I am so glad to learn there is another person who also can "write a novel" as the blogging process starts. I have to curb myself but sometimes, just as you said, the feelings are there and I let them run.
You have no idea how blessed I feel by your comments and praise. God Bless you for saying all these wonderful things about me. I have tried to follow Jesus-of course there have been times when I fell off course, but HE lovingly guided me back. My heart is tender and yet I truly have great love for others and hate to see anyone hurt by harsh words.
There is also a strong fighting spirit in me and my husband would be the first to tell people "With Martha-what you see is exactly what you get!" He then follows that with "Martha is very real and loving-and wears her heart on her sleeve!" He forgets to tell people "oh yes, She also has a VERY LONG MEMORY!!!"
Not always proud of some things I say when injustice is being done to another human-but its me and I think this goes all the way back to my childhood-as I learned about the amazing Love of Jesus! HE has been with me every second of my life.
I love your words and God bless you for being YOU. Martha
I really praise God for the gift HE has given us, in having each other, to encourage each other and most of all pray for each other.
DeleteI love you in the love of our Lord, Martha. You are precious.
GROUP HUG!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteDiane-
DeleteI was just sitting here-letting my mind travel to all the various locations in which all these amazing women live in. Its not too hard to "see" a Major GROUP HUG!! We just stretch our arms out really wide and Squeeze!!!!
Bless you Diane-as a comment from a movie Sandra Bullock played in
"My cup runneth over!"
all my love, martha
Lolita-
ReplyDeleteYou said it perfectly-I too praise God for having opened my eyes and giving me the courage to reach out through the BLOG process and meet such amazing women! All of you are truly Amazing Blessings in my life and I treasure each one of you.
You are filled with a glowing spirit Lolita and I am honored to have you in my life! God bless you and watch over you. Love, Martha
"Today I stood in the presence of two strong Christian Men-and it was a blessing for me. I knew the purchase would help them out as they make commissions-and I wanted to do something special to help you feel better and see a smile on your face!"
ReplyDeletePERFECT!!! I love that story! It made me think that God is not a word. You can keep people from saying it but that's not where God is. That's like using a little wee bucket to to scoop air out of the air and throw in back out... into the air. Good luck with that! Great story!
Veronica-
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping in! I was struggling to recall where I had seen your name and it was delightful to see your "Signature Characters" and recalled you had done a beautiful one for Diane.
Your words are very touching and I am glad you read it. By the way, you have a very unique talent! Stay with it!
Hope to see your name again!
Martha Herden
Thank you, Martha! I was dismayed to hear you fell off a tree and you still have to struggle 15 years later! I'm very proud of your courage! Stay strong! I will keep visiting your blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Veronica!
ReplyDeleteYes- Climbing 12 feet up in a tree, then falling out and landing HARD on my butt-oh my gosh-if I could have a do-over, that day would be it!! When I landed, the impact was so hard that it basically split my Sciatic Nerve and then scar tissue began growing and well-the rest is history..
There are many days when I do NOT feel strong or courageous-but by the grace of God, HE helps me get through it and I keep on Going. Sometimes in this battle with Chronic Pain-I feel like the female character in "Dances with Wolves" and think of myself as "Woman who stands with Determination" to keep going. This Pain is here to stay with me and thats why I found my motto "Pain Won't Beat Me" since I was here before the Pain walked in!
I found your blog site today and just enjoyed looking at your amazing Characters! Then I read many of your blogs and its my honor to learn more about you! Thanks again for visiting, and I will be finding my way more often to your blog!
God bless. Martha
Martha, I appreciate you sharing what happened. Your story has been on my mind and I was wondering about the details. I felt so, so bad for you! I'm afraid of heights and falling on your butt has to have been excruciating! When I was 14, tomboy that I was, I was running around outside with my friend and we jumped over a fat tree stump. She landed on her feet and I on my butt. I thought I was going to die! I was lucky and no damage was done but I never forgot how scared of that pain I was... It just doesn't seem fair that you should pay like that for some sort of oversight at the time. If you had pushed someone off the tree and went to jail for it you'd probably have gotten out already and be done with it. I hope really bad that a way for you to be pain-free is provided in a very, very short time. My whole family is joining me in this wish here (I shared your story with them). My 8-year-old is asking her dad how tall is 12 feet. She can't believe you fell from that up that high! Thank you for visiting my blog and the kind words! we're cheering for you!
ReplyDeleteVeronica-
ReplyDeleteWhat a blessing you are! I was amazed to hear your 8 year old wanting to know how Tall 12 feet is-please show her and then tell her, "Martha from Texas says to Please Never Climb Up a Tree!" You touch my heart deeply with your wish for me to be Pain Free-and believe me, that would be fantastic! But-its not going to happen and the reason is; The Sciatic Nerve is the biggest nerve in the body and mine is entrapped in Scar Tissue and after NINE operations, the Scar Tissue is there to stay. Fifteen years have passed with this Pain by my side and if I had gone to the Hospital that day of the fall, they could have injected medication in my butt that would have stopped all Scar Tissue from growing. When you land on your butt that hard-there is a huge amount of bleeding that occurs under the skin and of course I didn't tell anybody about falling, until three months later when my toes started to go numb. I agree with you if I had Pushed somebody out of a tree, my jail sentence would probably have passed by me as you said.
Yet in so many ways, I am very lucky-my husband is a Rock to me and has stood right by me through all of this. He has seen the changes happen and will stay up with me at night when the Pain is raging and all I can do is walk the floor and Pray. I am very blessed to have him and God has been just as close, lifting me up when I thought there was no way t stand.
Please also share this with your daughter if you wish-about three weeks ago, a wonderful 24 year old young man was at a fundraiser for another young man who had been in a very bad car wreck. Lots of kids were playing football and the ball got stuck in a "Tree." He climbed up, threw the ball down to the kids and as he was coming down, he took a hard fall-But then he jumped right up as if all was fine. When he moved to take a step, he fell to the ground. The fall had severed his neck from his spine and he died that day. There are no answers for such a tragedy-and when I heard about this-it hit me hard and made me realize-by the grace of God I am still here!
Bless your family for caring and you are an amazing woman. Please keep in touch. Just your kind thoughts of support help me-more than you will ever realize.
God bless you.Martha
Dear Martha, again, my heart is with you. I wanted to see what the sciatic nerve looked like in illustrations, what it does, etc, so I just did a search on google and got a quick education just because I can be a nerd sometimes. I understand better the anatomy of what's going on. It's hard to believe nothing humanly possible can be done!
ReplyDeletewhen I read that if you had gone to the hospital they would have been able to save you from all this pain I teared up. One little innocent decision! And it sounds like something I would have done--not told anybody and just went on with life.
I've climbed so many trees in my day and was lucky... Yesterday, as it happens, my husband told me he was going to take our girls to go climb around a beautiful tree's roots. I said no, no, no but he convinced me that it was just around the roots. The whole time I was thinking about your fall--and I don't mean to have you in my life as a warning sign; it's just that I had been thinking about you and the way you said if you had one do-over...
They ended up having a great time and the pictures of them in the tree roots are beautiful!
I'm reading about how your husband is a rock for you and I'm so so happy for you! It's not easy to watch someone you love in pain ad know you can't do anything. Special man!
You're the amazing woman, Martha! I just have this pathetic sinus pain once in a while. That's nothing! If there's any way at all in the universe that you could be relieved of this pain and go back to enjoying your body I wish that for you with all my heart!
Veronica-
ReplyDeleteWOW-to know my story impacted you so much that your Motherly instincts were on Super High as your children were around the Tree, even though they just played around the roots. I agree with you, its never my intent to be hanging around like a fly on the wall-being this warning signal.
One thing I have learned over the years when people ask me "why are you in such Pain?" Then I tell them, "Well I fell out of a tree." They have such a Blank look on their face and then ask me "What the heck were you doing up in a tree?" In these exchanges-I find myself wanting
to say "Oh I just decided to climb up that tree and REACH for the Sky!"
But instead my one comment is "You know, I would not wish the Pain I live with each day on my Worst Enemy!" Its honest and from my heart.
Thank you dearly for the comments and to take time out of your schedule to peek at that Big Sciatic Pain and learn about it! Way to Go!
Bless you Veronica-I think you are a very wonderful Woman. Martha
Hahaha. I wanted to reach for the sky! You funny girl! You're in my heart now, Martha! I'll be hanging around. Hehe.
ReplyDeleteVeronica-
ReplyDeleteYou have me laughing- and right now its something I am in need of. Pain is roaring off the charts for the last few days. I keep moving and doing whatever I can to get my mind away from the throbbing.
Loved the comment "I wanted to Reach for the Sky" and so happy you will be hanging around-just remember, please don't grab a single Tree Limb to hang from!"
Bless you Veronica, I am happy to have you hanging around-God has sent me another special blessing!
Take care and you are also in my heart! Martha
You are a blessing to me as well, Martha! I'm so sorry for the throbbing pain.
ReplyDeleteVeronica-
ReplyDeleteNo kinder words could be said to me! For anybody to think of me as a blessing to them-WOW-my heart glows with this loving comment. Please know the feeling is "mutual" and you are a very special blessing for me too.
Thank you for the words about my Pain-Yes its very tough for me when its raging like this. The best way I can try to describe is this-its like you are suddenly in the direct path of a Tornado and you know its time to Run like the dickens-but no matter how fast you run, The Tornado is gaining on you and will never move away from you.
Plain and simple-its always with me... But I am here, alive and kicking, and grateful to God for bringing me through this each day.
Blessings to you Veronica-I enjoy your comments so very much.
Martha