Update on this blog entry I wrote 5/2/2011. See the ring on my right hand? It was a beautiful black onyx ring with scroll work/design and a diamond in the center. It was a little over a year ago and I had dental work done that day and I was scurrying around to get things done while I still had the novacaine working in the event that I was to have pain later on. I never had pain that I can recall but in the midst of this I placed this ring on a tablecloth that had a black background and I went to the store and I placed the bags on the table. I then threw away the bags and thought nothing of it. I was searching for this ring to wear it and I searched everywhere. I even back tracked my steps on the day I last recalled wearing the ring. I could find it no where and my heart became filled with sadness. You may say to yourself why? Well, it was a ring purchased for me from my mother to remember my brother after the tragedy occured (the one that died in the boating accident and they never recovered his body.) I treasured this ring, I had it since high school I guess I looked at it as a sweet reminder of my brother. I even added a slightly larger diamond in the center years ago. The diamond just shone so beautiful in the right light. This weighed heavy on my heart for weeks sometimes I cried about this ring, I really did. Holy Spirit asked me to let it go and at first I wanted to hang onto it, as a connector piece to my brother via my mom blessing me with it. I let it go and that is now replaced with the blue Holy Spirit ring I believe I shared with you. When I am in the right lighting I see the beauty of this ring just glisten. I am thankful. The conclusion I came to is that I must have scooped it up with the bags on the table and then threw the away.
Since this entry all three of the people that received the majority of my father's belongings in his will are deceased now. I do not know if I shared this with you but at the time of my father's death his estate was valued at $1.98 million dollars. We were not even allowed to go through my father's belongings and select items to keep as memories/keepsake. I requested a few items and what I received was a small box of things. One of them being a very old kitchen type of doll I made as a child for my grandmother and it sat in her kitchen and then my dad kept it at his place. It was very old and I did discard that. A few cards I think were in there also and a a pair of cowboy boots that I did not request but my son wears them on occasion. See what we gave up? My father had great insight and vision as a business person and bought property in the downtown area of were we lived and even insight to purchase parking spots also at the location of the condo units. I was in the hospital room when my father's attorney asked if the will needed to be changed and my father responded "No the girls are taken care of" . Little did we know what to expect when we were being shown my father's will, we were in shock we could not believe what was just shared with us. We waited until the very end of time limitations to contest the will, waiting for our 2 uncles/cousin to reach out to us and nothing ever transpired. There was even a portion of the will that stated if anyone contested the will they would lose what was to be given to them.
A nun from one of the religious organizations contacted me to see if there was anything they could do for us since they noticed they were receiving more money bequeathed to them than us children were. That is when I went in search of someone to talk to about a possible trust being set up for grandchildren. It was in this search that a total stranger I was speaking to said we needed to contest this will and we eventually did. I remember sitting around a conference table at the attorney's office with several attorney's present (each religious organization that was listed in the will had an attorney present) to depose me. One of the questions proposed to me was that I was no longer a practicing Catholic and I was born again...thank you Holy Spirit for insight at that very moment in time I responded "I was still Catholic when I became born again." Thank God for my journals that I was able to pinpoint when I became born again. Remember I read the book, "Good Morning Holy Spirit" by Benny Hinn and I responded to the prayer at the end of the book. Thank you Jesus.
The blessing in all of this is that my father is in heaven, I shared with you that I led him to Jesus 3 weeks before he died and also did an altar call for salvation at his funeral mass. God gets all the glory in this story. Hey that rhymes.
I attend a church in which we are very blessed to have very anointed people step into the pulpit when the pastor is away. Tonight was one of those nights. I arrived at church and the worship was incredible again tonight. I had a brief moment to ask the lady next to me who was preaching tonight and she told me their name. I thought it was someone totally different when she said the name. I think I even commented oh he's from FL. Now that I look back on it she was probably thinking to herself who is she thinking it is? When he began to speak and the subject in which he spoke about I then realized I read this man's book, You Were Born For This. He is also the same man that wrote the ever popular book, The Prayer of Jabez. When that book was popular and I had it. Did you know that one of my children memorized the actual prayer of Jabez and I am not sure but I think they still remember it to this day. It is very wise to be cautious as to what reading material you allow into your home. You just never know which child will pick up the reading material you have in your home and just read it. It can be something that will bring life to their very life or they can read words that will bring unpleasant things into their life.
As he was teaching about how God uses people that are willing to respond to His nudges and then follow through with giving money to people around you that He brings into your life Holy Spirit began to remind me of a few recent encounters along with another one that happened several years ago. Let me share with you...Many years ago my father went to be with the Lord and at his death his will was shared with us at his attorney's office a few days after we buried him. It was really like something you would have seen in a movie. The family on one side of the desk and the attorney on the other side of his desk. We are handed the will and could not believe what we were reading right before our very eyes. We knew to expect that our father was leaving money to churches and church organizations for he told us that almost all of our lives. That did not surprise us, I must admit some of the monetary amounts were rather large in size and maybe it opened up my eyes just a bit wider at seeing the amounts. The majority of my father's estate went to three main people, three males on my father's side of the family. You need to know this for what I am about to share with you. We waited until the very end of the time allowed for one to contest a will. None of them extended to us anything to bless their family members children and grandchildren. That day never came so we found ourselves contesting his will.
Recently, one of the recipients died suddenly and left behind a wife and children. At that point in my life I saw a grieving wife/mother and children for their father/husband. It was a few weeks after the death and I felt Holy Spirit nudge me to look up this family (that I have never met before) and take to them a sympathy card and tuck in it a few gift cards to go get something to eat for the children. Not knowing their current circumstances in the financial arena a meal or two out could be welcome for the kids right. I introduced myself to them and gave them the card. I explained that I am also a single mother and I wanted to share something with them. We sat and they showed me family pictures and I was on my way. What caused me to put aside the past and my father's will distribution? It was the heart of a mother reaching out to another mother and her children. Grief can be very hard on a family especially when the one that died just died suddenly. That is a shock also. Was it easy for me to approach total strangers that I never met before and introduce myself? In the natural I would say yes but with Holy Spirit leading you it is as though you heart leads you with compassion and the very words to share also. It was an enjoyable visit but my heart really did ache for them as I left their home. This was now a family that had an important member of their family gone. I cried and I cried hard on the drive home.
As I left their home I still remembered the children and how one of them looked just like their grandmother would have looked when she was a child. Even though their father recently died the children took great delight in sharing with me family pictures and pointing out to me who people were in the pictures. It was a few months ago when this happened. It was getting close to Easter and Holy Spirit began to nudge my heart again. This time it was to go and make an Easter basket for the children. I went and made a basket and got a card and took it to their house. No one was there so I left it on their porch and hoped that they got it before the sun got hot and melted some of the chocolate. What stirred my heart then? Children, for children should be able to enjoy a holiday that for many years I enjoyed as a child and then as a parent myself seeing it through the eyes of my children.
Tonight I was reminded of another time in my life many years ago. Neighbors of mine were getting ready to take a family road trip and I saw the mom at the grocery store getting the snacks for the trip. When you are a parent and you may have limited funds to get groceries, there is this certain concentrated look you have while you are in line getting ready to pay for them. I have seen and experienced that very look myself and you are able to recognize it in others. I saw it that day. If you have not had to experience this let me share with you what causes this look while you are in line to pay for your groceries. You are concentrating and trying to figure out in your mind if what you have in your cart will be covered with the amount of money you have to spend. I felt that nudge by Holy Spirit and I turned to her and said that I would pay for their snacks, I wanted to bless them. I let the clerk know that I would pay once they were totaled up and I did.
God is always looking for those that are willing to not just hear the nudge but to act upon it too. It may cost you something that you had set aside for something else. Trust Holy Spirit when He moves upon you to help others. You just never know if that person was crying out to Him. That if He is really real for Him to show it to them that very day with the very amount of money to bless them with, the amount of money they needed. Do not just assume that street people are the only ones that need help. There may be someone out there that is better dressed than yourself or drives a nicer car. You really do not know their story until you begin to share what you have with them. God knows their very needs and He is looking for you to bless His people. Are you willing to take a step in faith and put your thoughts and agenda aside to let His agenda be forefront? Try it, step out in faith and see what He does. He sure is faithful and there is no greater feeling as you walk away from one of these God encounters knowing it was Him that led you in that very moment.
When I read the book several months ago I gleaned something from it and have added that to my daily prayer time. This is what I pray now as part of my prayers: "Father dispatch as many angels that are needed in the name of Jesus that will place people across and on my path to let me be a conduit to them in a miracle/blessing in their life this very day." I sought prayer tonight when Holy Spirit was nudging me to write on this topic. I wanted to write with tender words, I trust I did just that. Thank you for the prayer.
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