Mr. & Mrs. S

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” ~Romans 8:35-37

This scripture is so fitting for us right now. Although Randy and I often feel like everything in our life that can be shaken is being shaken we continue to see God show our family favor. There have been many small kindnesses shown to us that have really added up. There have also been some BIG things that have happened that has helped to make this sad time in our lives full of love and sweetness. For Instance:

While I was at the hospital with Miles in Ft. Worth during December Randy had gone to Lowes one day to buy some materials for a job he was working on. While he was there he saw his old principal from Lincoln Middle School. Let’s pause and remember how long ago Randy was in middle school. It was over 20 years ago! Not only did Randy recognize him, but he also went and said hi to him. This is something I would probably never do! He’s like that though. Anyway, he went up to Mr. S and introduced himself and explained that he used to be one of his students at Lincoln. The man was glad to see him although they did not know each other back then. Mr. S asked if Randy had a family and Randy told him that he was married and had 5 kids. They chatted for a minute and then Randy said goodbye because he had to go buy the materials for work. As Randy walked off Mr. S called back to him and asked, “So, how is your family?”

Considering where we were at the time Randy thought that was very interesting. Since Mr. S asked, Randy told him about how sick Miles was and that we were in the hospital in Ft. Worth. Mr. S said that he would pray for Miles. Randy thanked him and then went about his business.

Later that day Randy received a voicemail on his cell phone from MRS. S. The message asked Randy to please call her back because she heard about our family. Randy called her back and she was very kind. She wanted to know the other kid’s names and ages and stuff like that. Randy finally asked her how in the world she got his cell phone number because he had not given it to Mr. S and we don’t advertise. She asked, “Are you really going to make me answer that?” Randy said, “I guess not.”

Anyway, she asked if her and Mr. S could come over to our house that evening so they could meet him and the other kids. He said they could come over, and they did. The couple came to our house and talked to the kids. They asked if we had a “place of worship” and before they left they gave Randy an envelope with $300 cash in it! They had felt like God had directed them to do it and they were obedient. Before they left Randy asked Mrs. S again how she got his number but she basically said, “If I told you I would have to kill you.” I guess the $300 bought his silence because he didn’t make her divulge her sources.

I was so impressed with how brave they were. They didn’t just find out where we lived and drop an envelope in our mailbox. They came to our house and talked with our family, and I’m sure they were prepared to invite us to church if we didn’t already have one. It was so generous of them! You know everyone can use extra money in December! Randy was able to buy groceries and to give some to the kids to spend on Christmas presents. They had a lot of fun with that. Most of all though it made us feel taken care of! These people were complete strangers to us and yet they were used by God to make us feel like he was still so close to us.

THEN about 2 weeks ago I was doing home school with Spencer when my cell phone rang. It was Mrs. S. She started to explain who she was and I told her I knew who she was and I was able to thank her for her generosity. (I still had not met her and we hadn’t heard from them since that night.) Well, she told me that her and Mr. S had still been praying for our family and they felt like they were supposed to OPEN UP SAVINGS ACCOUNTS FOR ALL OF OUR CHILDREN!!! Do I need to remind you about how many children we have? FIVE! Yes! FIVE!

Today Randy met Mr. S at the bank while the savings accounts were being opened! Several times Mrs. S said that she wished they could have put a 100 times more money in there than they could, but that hopefully it will grow into more. They plan on adding to it here and there. Also, the kids can add their own money to the account. This definitely had Joey’s wheels turning! Poor Jocie though, she just “didn’t get” why you would want to money in the bank that you couldn’t spend! She was cracking us up. She was so confused with the whole thing. Melody was asking if buying Baby Dolls was a good reason to pull money out of her savings. (No) Joey tried explaining the whole process to the girls after Randy and I had given up. I wish I could have the whole conversation recorded because it was so humorous.

Anyway, I’m so thankful for Mr. & Mrs. S for their faithfulness and their generosity. I feel so inspired by them. Their obedience has made us feel taken care of by God. I think it’s so neat that the Lord used perfect strangers to show us his presence in our lives. Yesterday I saw a book called “God Winks.” It looked cheesy so I didn’t buy it, but it was about these sorts of situations where God shows up in “coincidences” to show you His love.

Thank you Lord for that sweet WINK! Use me to WINK for you!!!