A God Story

A God Story

I dedicate this true story to my friend Sandy B. who is unfortunately gone now, leaving behind, her two beautiful boys.

One afternoon, when I was in my late twenties, I was at home in Richmond with one of my two foster teenage girls. I was planning to visit my friend Sandy B that afternoon and so phoned her. I got an answer, but it wasn't her. I apologized and tried again. Then, I called repeatedly and even though I knew I was dialing correctly, the same woman kept answering! We both finally started up a conversation and both admitted that we felt drawn to talk and to meet each other! Apparently she lived nearby with her husband and she invited both of us to dinner that same day.

I felt that God/Spirit was up to something and I was eager to go. I loved this kind of adventure and had wanted an opportunity to share something like this with my foster daughter.

We went and we were both impressed by the woman's lovely home, her style, and the dinner she served to us, her company and family. And when the dinner was over, the woman then started to talk about the recent painful death of her sister. (My foster daughter sat up straighter at this point, waiting !) It was obvious this woman was really raw and deeply hurting. And at the same time it also became quite apparent that her husband wasn't able to accept or understand her grief. He was kind of rolling his eyes about her choice of conversation, but we kept encouraging her to talk anyways, as it was clear that she needed support.

She then asked the both of us into another room to see a scrapbook she had made of her sister's life. This was something she had recently made for her sister's funeral and it was amazing:) Then she picked up another item and passed it to me while saying, " I have such an urge to read this book and I don't know where to start and my husband gets mad when I look at it". (I thought my foster daughter's eyes were going to pop out of her head at this moment.) It was a bible.

I took the bible from her hands and opened it up to Psalm 23, suggesting she start there. With suddenly weak knees, we all sat down on the floor while I read it to her out loud. She was deeply moved and started to cry and began to release some of her blocked up grief. We left shortly afterwards, feeling that our 'job' was done and I slipped her the name of a local pastor she could call if she wished.

My teenager was so excited to see God/Spirit work in this wonderful way! Once we got home, we talked a lot about how weird and fun and somehow normal it had all seemed:) Plus, I pointed out how all of us had gotten our needs met. She had had her first alcoholic fancy shmancy drink at dinner with adults, and I (a foodie) had a fabulous meal, and the stranger, the woman on the other end of the phone, had received the exact help she had prayed for!

It was an interesting and amazing day !

...Sweet Memories Sandy - Love and Peace :)