Heading Home

Maybe you've read this story before, maybe not. It is a wonderful reminder to be thankful. Enjoy!

Sandra felt as low as the heels on her shoes as she pushed against a November gust and opened the florist shop door. Her life had been easy, like a spring breeze. Then, in the fourth month of her second pregnancy, a minor automobile accident stole her ease.

During this Thanksgiving week, she would have delivered a son. She grieved over her loss. As if that weren’t enough, her husband’s company threatened a transfer. Then, her sister, whose annual holiday visit she coveted, called to say she could not come.

What was worse, Sandra’s friend infuriated her by suggesting her grief was a God-given path to maturity that would allow her to empathize with others who suffer.

She has no idea what I’m feeling. “Thanksgiving? Thankful for what?” she wondered aloud. For a careless driver whose truck was hardly scratched when he rear-ended her? For an airbag that saved her life but took that of her child?

“Good afternoon, can I help you?”

“I....I need an arrangement,” stammered Sandra, “for Thanksgiving.”

“Do you want beautiful but ordinary, or would you like to challenge the day with a customer favorite I call the Thanksgiving Special?” asked the shop clerk. “I’m convinced that flowers tell stories. Are you looking for something that conveys gratitude this Thanksgiving?”

“Not exactly!” Sandra blurted out. “In the last five months, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.”

Sandra regretted her outburst and was surprised when the shop clerk said, “I have the perfect arrangement for you.”

The door’s small bell rang, and the shop clerk said, “Hi, Barbara...let me get your order.” She politely excused herself and walked toward a small workroom, then quickly reappeared, carrying an arrangement of greenery, bows, and long-stemmed thorny roses.

Except the ends of the rose stems were neatly snipped...there were no flowers.

“Want this in a box?” asked the clerk.

Sandra watched for the customer’s response. Was this a joke? Who would want rose stems with no flowers? She waited for laughter but neither woman laughed.

“Yes, please,” Barbara replied with an appreciative smile. “You’d think after three years of getting the special, I wouldn't be so moved by its significance, but I can feel it right here, all over again,” she said, as she gently tapped her chest. She thanked the clerk and left.

“Uhh...” stammered Sandra, “that lady just left with, uhh...no flowers!”

“Right. I cut off the flowers. That’s the Special. I call it the Thanksgiving Thorns Bouquet.”

“Oh, come on, you can’t tell me someone is willing to pay for that?” exclaimed Sandra.

“Barbara came into the shop three years ago feeling very much like you feel today. She thought she had very little to be thankful for. She had lost her father to cancer, the family business was failing, her son was into drugs, and she was facing major surgery.”

“That same year I had lost my husband,” continued the clerk, “and for the first time in my life, I had to spend the holidays alone. I had no children, no husband, no family nearby, and too great a debt to allow any travel.”

“So, what did you do?” asked Sandra.

“I learned to be thankful for thorns,” answered the clerk quietly. “I’ve always thanked God for good things in life and never thought to ask Him why those good things happened to me, but when bad stuff hit, did I ever ask! It took time for me to learn that dark times are important. I always enjoyed the “flowers” of life, but it took “thorns” to show me the beauty of God’s comfort. You know, the Bible says that God comforts us when we’re afflicted, and from His consolation we learn to comfort others.”

Sandra sucked in her breath as she thought about the very thing her friend had tried to tell her. “I guess the truth is I don’t want comfort. I’ve lost a baby and I’m angry with God.”

Just then someone else walked in the shop.

“Hey, Phil!” shouted the clerk to the balding, rotund man.

“My wife sent me in to get our usual Thanksgiving arrangement...twelve thorny, long-stemmed stems!” laughed Phil as the clerk handed him a tissue-wrapped arrangement from the refrigerator.

“Are those for your wife?” asked Sandra incredulously. “Do you mind me asking why she wants something that looks like that?”

“No...I’m glad you asked,” Phil replied. “Four years ago, my wife and I nearly divorced. After forty years, we were in a real mess, but with the Lord’s grace and guidance, we slogged through problem after problem. He rescued our marriage. Jenny here told me she kept a vase of rose stems to remind her of what she learned from “thorny” times and that was good enough for me. I took home some of those stems. My wife and I decided to label each one for a specific problem and give thanks to Him for what that problem taught us.”

As Phil paid the clerk, he said to Sandra, “I highly recommend the special!”

“I don’t know if I can be thankful for the thorns in my life.” Sandra said to the clerk. “It’s all too...fresh.”

“Well, my experience has shown me that thorns make roses more precious. We treasure God’s providential care more during trouble than at any other time. Remember, it was a crown of thorns that Jesus wore so we might know His love. Don’t resent the thorns.”

Tears rolled down Sandra’s cheeks. For the first time since the accident, she loosened her grip on resentment. “I'll take those twelve long-stemmed thorns, please,” she managed to choke out.

“I hoped you would,” said the clerk gently. “I'll have them ready in a minute.”

“Thank you. What do I owe you?” asked Sandra.

“Nothing.” said the clerk. “Nothing but a promise to allow God to heal your heart. The first year’s arrangement is always on me.” She smiled and handed a card to Sandra.

“I'll attach this card to your arrangement, but maybe you’d like to read it first.”

Sandra took the card and read, “Dear God, I have never thanked You for my thorns. I have thanked You a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorns. Teach me the glory of the cross I bear; teach me the value of my thorns. Show me that I have climbed closer to you along the path of pain. Show me that, through my tears, the colors of your rainbow look much more brilliant. ~George Matheson”

Jenny said, “Happy Thanksgiving, Sandra,” handing her the special. “I look forward to knowing each other better.”

Sandra smiled. She turned, opened the door, and walked toward hope.

Praise Him for the roses; thank Him for the thorns. God bless all of you. Be thankful for all that the Lord does for you.

*the author of this piece is unknown

Faith, Fun & Food Blog Party

Today only!

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to see another blog in the Faith, Fun, & Food Blog Party!

The next verse in our Romans 12 series is verse 14, entitled Bless Your Enemies and written by another cyber friend Teresa Criswell. Be sure to visit Teresa’s blog, Triumphant Victorious Reminders.

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”
~ Romans 12:14 ~
My shift was over. Getting ready to leave, I went into the office area to retrieve my check. As I approached the glass window of the door, I began to knock but stopped suddenly, when I realized that my manager was on the phone. She turned around to give me a look that revealed frustration and yelled, “What do you want?!”

Taken back by her reaction from her body language, face, and words, I stumbled over my words, as the ‘jab’ of her words took me by surprise. I finally said, “I apologize, I didn’t realize you were on the phone. I wanted to pick up my check.”

Suddenly, with great power this petite, thin woman violently opened the heavy door, which then ricocheted off the wall, slammed, and opened again. Frustrated, she had her phone resting between her shoulder and face, as she held the door open with her foot, picking up the pile of checks and, one at a time with extreme motion, shuffling through each one as she threw each one on the desk until she finally found mine.

As she finally found it, she jerked her arm towards me, extending my check towards me and finally said, “Here!” I turned around walking away when I heard an associate say, “Teresa, can you let her know that she has a phone call on line 2.”

I said, with a stunned chuckle, “This probably isn’t a great time to do that.”

Tempted to scream at the top of lungs, I walked outside, looked up at the sky, and through violently gritted teeth, I yelled, “GOD BLESS HER!”

I fought with the agony of wanting to leave. The ‘runner’ in me tried to talk to myself and say, “Get out of there!”

To make matters easier to leave, I worked at a particular restaurant chain in which this store was known to have the highest turnover rate in the whole state. The turnover was mainly due to her lack of ability to manage and coach people. It was quite overwhelming as this woman was someone you didn’t want on your bad side.

That moment, as I released a blessing over her, I had peace, even through the frustration. Within three hours, I realized I had a missed call and a message on my voicemail. Upon checking my voicemail, it was none other than her!

This woman, never known to apologize, was calling me to apologize for the way she acted and pled with me not to leave, explaining to me the events that led to her exploding. At that moment, I realized that the blessing of God that was released over her was also released over me.

I got to see God’s hand of favor and provision work on my behalf as His Word manifested making a way, getting through the uncomfortable situation. To hear her apology made me realize her need of wanting to be understood even through her embarrassing outburst.

I came back that same evening to work my double shift when I was able to hug her, watching God’s love be poured out upon an unlovable person.

Now, I realize this doesn’t happen often, but for me, through this situation, we became close friends and people that I worked with saw another side of this woman that none of us knew existed. It was amazing to see God utilize me to cultivate and experience the way God saw her as His loving embrace began to squeeze His life out of her.

There have been other scenarios in my life where I decided to bless my enemies, and I can confidently say, every time I had peace. I must say, most of the time, I was literally amazed watching the power of God move on my behalf, influencing the heart of the one who was considered my ‘enemy.’

The other times I didn’t see anything on their part change towards me; however, and most importantly, I saw change in my heart as compassion for that person came forth from the Holy Spirit of God.

The power of blessing our enemy is not because we decided to bless someone. It is because we have decided to become obedient to God and His Divine Nature who is The Blesser. We have been equipped to utilize God’s power of blessing over another person as we are able to sow righteous seed, seeing the righteous harvest of life from Almighty God, revealing His glory upon the earth!

I am reminded yet again, that to curse an enemy is to curse oneself; however, to bless an enemy is to bless oneself.

Welcome to my celebration! What am I celebrating? My first blog anniversary! So I guess it would be my First Blogaversary!

Where has the time gone? Here we are…one year later! I cannot believe it! I posted my first blogpost on July 20, 2008. This comes as my husband and I just celebrated our 43rd anniversary on July 15.

When one celebrates an anniversary, one usually looks back over the variety of events that have taken place over the years. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Well, for the blog, only a couple of times blipped the “bad and ugly” radar. The real bad and ugly happened behind the scenes as I tried to write!

I’ve shed tears of joy, and a little pain, and brain cells of thought. Writing is sometimes very difficult as I deal with the symptoms of fibromyalgia, which causes foggy thinking through impaired comprehension, difficulty in concentration, and temporary memory loss.

My first blogpost was Stepping Out in Faith, which said it all. (If you’d like to read it, you can click here. It was a huge leap for me. Questions plagued my mind, like…

* Who will read what I write?
* What the heck will I write about?
* How in the world will I keep this up?
* Will I write what is pleasing to the Lord?
* Will others want to come back to read again?
* How will I ever draw others into this little world of Heading Home?
* Will I write the things that will encourage others or touch a need in their lives?

Because of the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I always know there is at least special person, and sometimes more, for whom my words, or rather His words, are meant to minister.

Through my blog and other networks, the Lord has truly blessed me over the last year with countless, precious cyber-friends, all a part of God’s family.

So many of you have encouraged my heart, sometimes so beautifully that I have been overwhelmed and touched by your kind, caring, and encouraging words.

I want to thank each and every one of you, my readers and followers. You are very precious to me. I pray daily that the Lord will guide my heart, my mind, and my fingers to write the words that will be of benefit to you by touching your hearts in whatever you need.

In appreciation for your faithfulness in reading, I have a new give-away. I asked on Twitter what others would like in the way of a give-away and I got too many different answers. Therefore, I am making this the Winner’s Choice Give-away! It consists of $100 that can be received in one of these ways…

* 1 - $100 pre-paid card
* 1 - $100 gift card to one store of winner’s choice
* 2 - $50 gift cards to two stores of winner’s choice
* or divvied up in any configuration of winner’s choice

If you’d like to join in the celebration, please sign up in the comment box on the right close to the top of the sidebar.

I leave you with the verse on which I hang my life…“Did I not tell you and promise you that if you would believe and rely on Me, you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40 Amp)

I pray a blessing of peace, provision, protection, and the presence of the Lord in all things for each of you.

~~Blessings…Lynn~~