I wasn’t going to post this today … I had a fun little giveaway planned instead {so check back tomorrow please!} … but I need to share something that happened yesterday.
My friend Terrie, along with her husband and daughter, came to visit just less than a month ago. They called it their “maiden voyage” without Em. If you’ve got, oh … about 12 minutes, you can learn more of their story here.
Anyway. It was one of those bittersweet times. So much joy in seeing my friends … yet so much sadness. There were smiles and catching up … but they were stolen moments between sorrow and tears. Lots of inspiration and lifting of each other … but shared with heavy hearts.
I haven’t lost a daughter, but I have lost a family … a life. And while I don’t dare presume for one minute that I know the pain their family is suffering through … I do know grief, mourning, trying to find a new normal.
Terrie is gracious. Loving. Beautiful. And Terrie, if you read this … I’m not saying you’re strong. :)
But dear readers, I’ll tell you what. My beautiful friend Terrie is letting God guide her steps right now. She’s leaning on Him and trusting that He will see their family through.
I’m not sure if that sounds familiar to you at all {um, you know, if you read my musings here on the blog}? So maybe you can see how we had a lot to talk about.
Anyway.
She’s coined a new phrase. When something happens that’s quite coincidental … but we know it’s not … we know God’s hand is all over it … she says … now we say, “of course {this or that} happened!”
Oh how our God knows what we need. And right when we need it.
So … you might have read … yesterday was my birthday. And I am blessed. I was gifted. And I was loved. But there are deep wounds that don’t necessarily heal with blessings, gifts and love. True story.
It was a wonderful day and I went to bed thanking God for all I have and all He does. That said … I hurt. It was emotional. Just was.
When I got home from dropping the girls at school and started cleaning the kitchen … I had a gravy boat {weird, but part of the story} to put away on a high shelf and I needed to get a chair out to put it away.
Let me back up … while Terrie was here, I needed to run out for a bit and it was right before they were leaving for home. We had a time change while she was here and I might have been complaining about changing all the clocks back … well, when I got home, she had already gone, but to my surprise she had turned back all of the clocks for me.
There’s one that sits right above my stove and she didn’t hang it back up properly … it was just sort of resting on the molding there. I was much too lazy busy to drag a chair over there to get it on the actual nail, so just left it sit there … for almost a month.
Back to yesterday … while I had the tall chair out putting the gravy boat away, I decided to put the clock up on the proper nail.
When I picked the clock up, a piece of paper came fluttering down and landed on the floor. It was such a crazy thing, I wasn’t sure what happened. So I hung the clock and got down.
And then picked up the paper {which had landed face down}.
It was a hidden note from Terrie. A birthday gift. Saved for just the right moment in time.
I took a picture, texted her, told her I had just found it. “My birthday gift from you … from God! OF COURSE I found it today.”
God hears you my friend. He sees you. You might not think He’s listening. You may think you’re not hearing Him.
Listen carefully … ears, eyes, but most importantly heart … wide open. Look there! Did you see that fluttering piece of paper fall … there He is … speaking to you.
He loves you.
I love the reminder tucked in just after that too – “… being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Phil 1:6
Fabulous! Just an echo of the message I was hearing in my heart this morning while getting ready. He is there, even when we don’t feel that He is! HE IS!!! :)
Those moments are the best of moments. Do you keep a list? I started last year, and it is SUCH a blessing going back over that list to remember the moments where God abundantly provided in moments of heart needs {and physical needs!}
I think that is one of your very best posts ever Tracie. Of course, I’m biased, because I know Terrie and what a wonderful and giving person she truly is (and was well before tragedy came into her life). God puts people in our lives for a reason, and you and Terrie were meant to be friends, even before you were born.
I love those thoughts, “of course ‘Terri and Tracie’ being friends was meant to happen’.
Well, that gave me goosebumps! So blessed to call you both friends! (And I love Jessica’s suggestion of keeping a list. I need to do that!)
How awesome is that! I’m sure your cheeks are tingling from the constant smile of His love for you Tracie!
you need to stop writing posts that make me cry!
Tracie, My name is Cindi Johnson and I am Gregg’s sister. Your video and the pictures you put up of my beautiful niece Emily today are truly beautiful. Thank you
Belated Happy Birthday!
I have had many of those ” of course” moments…so many things come to mind that were overlooked at the time, but all of a sudden, dah, it was right in front of me, but had no reason to think deeper and only think …whatever…until all of a sudden the dim recollection shines like a bright beacon..”of course”…
Take Care
Tears…for all the hurt that you feel…tears for Terrie and her family for all of their pain…tears of happiness knowing you are in good hands…his hands…
What a wonderful gift!
Wow! How cool that God put that note in your hands at exactly the moment you needed it!
wow… what a gift! xoxo
Loved reading this~love how you share your heart~you are a gift!!!!!!!! xoxoxoxo
He does love us tracie…. it’s nice to have people in our life that are looking for God everywhere. love you tracie
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