I love roller coasters. I love the adrenaline rush as the ride begins to move forward and take off. My palms start to sweat as the coaster climbs up to a higher point...only to drop back down. My stomach gets butterflies and a silent scream is all I can manage to get out as we miss the ground by what feels like only a couple of inches. There's a ride called Space Mountain at Disney in Florida. The ride counts down...3....2...but takes off before it gets to 1. You're not ready for the ride to take off when it does...but you're strapped into the coaster and have no say in the matter. That's how my life is these days...only problem is that I don't have a cart to ride in or a seat belt fastened all the time. As you sit on this particular ride you hear children crying and adults screaming because they just weren't expecting it to take off so suddenly. I knew my mom was going to go back to the hospital on Thursday, but I still just wasn't emotionally prepared. I knew the countdown was occurring...3...2...but I never heard 1. Everything just happens so fast on the roller coaster of life - you don't know where you'll be seated, if your seat belt will work or when exactly you're taking off.
I drove into Norfolk on Friday morning for a day of much needed pampering. I love getting my hair done - I just feel so pretty when I leave that salon chair and go back out into the world. I smell like all kinds of wonderful things that are ultimately hazardous chemicals put into my hair so that it has perfect volume and shine...but no complaints here! Salon days are different for me though - I know my hair dresser very well. She's the only person that's ever cut or styled my hair, ever. I knew when I got to that salon I would have a big hug waiting for me and that was the real reason I drove into Norfolk so early Friday morning - hair has become secondary. I was almost to the salon and I noticed a billboard that read "God is ." My first thought was God is what? I thought maybe the word had fallen off or someone had been fired halfway through making the sign. I began to think about the word I'd put in that blank but I couldn't find the right one. I got to the salon, received my hug and began the beautification process. While I was sitting there a woman came into the salon and began to talk to my hairdresser about the most recent struggle in her life. I sat in the chair thinking about the billboard and how my life was an absolute mess not paying much attention to this woman in front of me. She began to address me and apologized for her rant - but the rant actually made me feel better. It made me realize that no matter how old you are or how prepared you think you are for adversity...you're really not that prepared for life's great challenges.
I continued talking to this woman I've never met. We talked about our lives and the crap that we're both facing. I learned that this woman was not only a woman of faith but of great character too. I found myself talking about the Good News in her presence and drawing connections from my life to the Bible. When she left the salon I felt as if a weight was lifted off of me...I felt like maybe I could make it another day through this fight. I thought about the billboard again and began to realize how accurate the message was - it was thought provoking and the answer could be anything you wanted it to be. After my hairdresser turned me from a pumpkin to a princess I drove over to the hospital to see my mom. As I was driving through downtown Norfolk I was stopped by every single stoplight - talk about bad timing! I looked out my window to see two homeless people - a man and a woman sitting on a bench. They were dressed in ratty old coats and had big holey blankets wrapped around their shoulders. Then I saw that they were holding hands. They were looking around, watching the cars drive by and enjoying the company of one another. I often think that my life is hard and my problems trump everyone else's...but that's simply not true.
I love that the billboard was left with an unwritten word. I love that the author left it up to interpretation because God is many things to many different people. In my experience, God is love. God was present on that roller coaster ride that took off before you were ready. God was present in the woman that I happened to encounter in the salon. God was the love felt between those two homeless people sitting on Colley Avenue in Norfolk. God's love is all around us - woven in and out of our problems that seem so personal and tragic in our lives. I have strayed from my devotion book for this one because I was given a passage that spoke to me by a dear friend on the day my mom went back to the hospital. It is from Romans 8:38-39 and reads "For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." My friend texted me this passage and said "I'm sure today was awful and tomorrow might not be looking good either but there's nothing ever that will separate us from the one that knew us before we were born and loves more than we can begin to understand." God's love is in my sweet friend sharing this passage through a text message.
Life changes in an instant - everything that you think is great could get better or worse without even blinking. It's scary to know that God's plan is out of our hands...but it's comforting to know that He loves us more than anyone else on the whole Earth. It's comforting to know that no matter what He will love us and protect us even when we think we don't deserve it anymore. He will love us when we're pumpkins and not princesses. He will love us when we cry because our roller coaster took off faster than we anticipated. Most importantly, He will love us when we don't love Him back - or when we think He's forgotten about us. I am so thankful for the support, kindness and love I feel on a daily basis from my friends and family - God works through all of you too! But lately I've noticed most of my God encounters from things I would normally overlook - like billboards and homeless people...there are messages from God in all people and in all situations. If you look with your heart, you'll find the love.
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