Blog for April 11th, 2022
What a week of surprises. This past week has proven to me, one more time, you just never know what to expect. So just continue to expect the unexpected. I have had the opportunity to relearn some old lessons and see God’s handiwork in everything this week.
First off, last week I was honored and privileged to celebrate my thirty-seven years clean with my women’s group and several sponsee’s. They came from another town to celebrate with me. I knew of a couple of them coming but the others were an awesome surprise. They are so sweet. It was an awesome meeting, our topic was honesty, I loved it. Great surprise.
Earlier that same day my husband and I had been invited to lunch (which is a surprise too- no one invites us over for lunch besides my daughter). He is our old pastor from years ago and they are back in town to help out again at our old church, even though he is retired. We just love this couple; they are so awesome. So, we went and chatted a bit before we ate. The subject of us raising our grandson came up and we told them a little bit about his mom leaving them back in 2012. We told them she rarely tries to see him and in fact it’s been two and a half years since she last came to see him.
Then we go to sit down and eat, and my phone kept ringing and I said, “I am working the hotline today, perhaps I better check that”. So, I answered the phone and lo and behold, it was her! She sounded like her same angry, aggressive self. Saying she wanted to see “her son”, I said “ok”. Then she spouted off about my son and blah blah blah, but I told her we were at our friends visiting, I’d call her back. She told me I couldn’t, so I said, well then you call me back. She never did.
The surprise was not just her calling but calling while we were with a pastor and his wife. So strange. But it’s no surprise that she never called back, even though I told her she could see him.
The next day’s surprise is that I took my grandson to Walmart after school to get some new t-shirts, socks, and other things. I bought dog food and things and when I checked out with my big basket full of items, I couldn’t find my bank card! It had been in my pocket, and now it was gone. The boy and I started looking around the store, I retraced my steps and found it in the meat department, just lying there on the floor! It had been laying there at least twenty minutes and no one bothered it! Wow! I had started praying when I went looking and God surely answered that prayer. I was in a panic. I was so incredibly surprised it was still there! Thank-you Lord.
The next surprise was when an old friend who had been clean and in the program with us a few years back came to help get our cooler going because it is getting pretty hot here now. That wasn’t the surprise, the surprise was him asking for a meeting guide and what was going on in NA. Yay! That’s not only a surprise, but it’s also a real good sign. Thank-you Lord.
I know these may not seem like big deals to some of you, but for me, the women coming and the friend reaching out and the boy’s mom calling were all surprises to me, showing me that God is always in the background working His miracles. Not to mention the lost bank card I found in such a large, populated store!
By the way, one of the surprises was also about the women’s meeting. I come to grow pretty attached to one of ladies there. She is a single mother of three and is a hard worker and is as sweet as can be. She hasn’t been to the meeting in a couple of weeks, not even on the zoom (yes, we still keep the zoom open) anyway, my self-centered self, thought she was mad at me and that’s why she didn’t come, call, text or anything. Two days later she did call me and told me she was sorry she missed my celebration. Wow! Really? So, see there, what do I know? Turns out her kids have been sick, and her son had baseball games out of town. It wasn’t about me at all! And she didn’t realize it had been my birthday time. She told me how much she loved me and it made me feel so happy. I was really surprised by her call.
So, yes, there ya go, just a few instances where I was taken aback by God’s handiwork, teaching me lesson’s I already knew like, “it’s not all about me”. Certainly God can do amazing things, like hiding my bank card from the people that walked right by it and our boys mom calling and our friend kinda reaching out. God is good.
Winding up the week I got to go hear that Pastor and guess what.. my son and his girlfriend and lots of old friends came when they heard he was there. Was a treat and surprise to see all these old friends that we had journeyed with on this spiritual path that God has brought us on.
Then we went and got our other grandson and took him and the one that lives with us to see the new Batman movie, but we dropped my husband off at his sisters first. We got to see our niece visiting from Texas and he had a good long visit with them all. What a great week!
It seems we don’t get a whole lot of weeks like this, not even a couple of days in a row lately, so this blessed week was indeed a welcomed surprise!
Question of the Week: Have you had any surprises lately? Were they good, bad, fun, scary?
