Abundance And Joy And Peace And Love

Today was a very fun day – I don’t know how else to describe it, and in some ways fun doesn’t even begin to describe it. I had been invited to go to a meeting for community resource providers, and when I got to the address where the building was supposed to be, there was a building there but it wasn’t the building where the meeting was being held. The doors were locked and when I went into the building next door which was a charter school run by a Catholic Church, the very nice people there had no idea what I was talking about and they tried their best to call people and help me, but no one knew anything about the meeting. The building that I had the address for was part of the charter school, it was their gym, and they said they never rented it out during the day because they needed it for classes. They were so very nice in trying to help me – where I live always amazes me at how people will help some woman who walks in off the street out of nowhere looking for a meeting that no one’s ever heard of. They really did try their best and it was heartening to think that there are people out there who act that way all the time. Working as much as I do in NYC’s five boroughs and spending as much time as I do there makes me forget sometimes that there are really nice people all around the globe. I’ve needed my vacation time for my own rest and regrouping, and having this experience today revived something in me that was in danger of being lost.

Before I’d arrived at the wrong destination – or really the wrong address but always the right destination because I’ve gotten to know that with God there are no accidents – I’d walked through one of the most beautiful little neighborhoods I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a place that I hadn’t been to yet – the area where I live is really big, and though I love to explore, I don’t often have the time that I’d like to do it. Placards on the houses and in the park areas explained that this was one of the oldest – if not the oldest – streets and areas of the city, and different houses told different stories about how the area came into being. Then I got a little lost because some of the streets were criss-crossing and I missed a turn I needed to take, and when I asked directions from a couple who were walking, they answered me as best as they could. I walked a bit further and realized I had missed that turn, so I asked the Holy Spirit and took the next right. That street led me right back where I needed to be, a few blocks away from the address I had for the meeting.

After I left the charter school, I called the woman who had given me the address for the meeting and left a message that somehow I must have written it down wrong, and she called me back in a few minutes to say that I had the address she’d given me, but that she’d gotten it from someone else who she had just sent a text message to and was waiting to hear back where she was. I really didn’t mind at all because I was having such a lovely adventure – in some ways I hadn’t even wanted to go to the meeting because this is my vacation week and I go to meetings like that every day when I’m working. But when I heard about the meeting yesterday from the woman who gave me the address, I felt a prompting of the Holy Spirit telling me to go, and then this morning the same thing when I woke up at 6:30am. If I’d had my way I’d have gone back to sleep, but the prompting was so strong I got out of bed and got going.

I had planned to go to a specific street on my way home – it was on the way and I’ve been wanting to buy dates and golden raisins and a big five pound tub of yogurt on a street that has lots of Indian stores. On my way there, the woman called me back to tell me that the meeting had been cancelled – it had been in another place, but that other place was flooded so they couldn’t hold the meeting. By that time I had discovered a thrift store and was happily looking through ladies vintage gloves that they were selling for a dollar a pair. I know I’ve written about this before, but I’ll write it here again that the area where I live has the best thrift stores I’ve ever seen in my life. I know the Lord blesses me every time I go to any of them, and I do think that there are angels and spirits of family members who shop for me before I go to make sure I find exactly the kinds of things I like, but even so I know there are other people who are having fun and finding amazing bargains too. While I was looking at the gloves, a very lady-like lady behind the counter asked me if I liked costume jewelry, which I do so I said a big yes, and she pulled out a basket full of some of the nicest costume jewelry I’ve seen anywhere and told me it had just come in. I looked through it and put aside a few pieces and when I asked her the price she charged me two dollars for each one. I had been thinking that I’d have to pick and choose depending on the price, but I bought everything because it would have been ridiculous not to.

On my way home from there I stopped to buy the yogurt and dates and raisins, and some of the stores that I’d been wanting to look into that sell jewelry and clothing were open, and it was the first time that had happened since I started shopping on that street. Some of the shops have strange hours – it has to do with lunch breaks and shorter work days and holidays, or at least I think that’s what it is. It also may have to do with the fact that sometimes people who sell to a certain group of people don’t want to sell to anyone else. I’m usually one of the few non-Indian people who shops on that street, and I know one day when I buzzed the buzzer on one of the stores the woman inside shook her head no at me. I couldn’t understand why and she didn’t explain, but for some reason today all of the shops let me in. I ended up buying a necklace and earing set that has a head piece as well – not a head piece in the way that a tiara or crown is a head piece, but this one hangs over the forehead. If you’ve ever seen pictures of royal ladies in traditional Indian adornment, you’ll know what I mean. I remembered that my grandmother used to wear things like that in her flapper years, and so on my way home I thanked her. It was just the kind of thing she would have bought and wanted me to have – she loved her costume jewelry and gave me a few pieces over the years.

And then I started to ask God just what was going on. I had been having such a fun and frivolous day and I didn’t know why. The answer that came back is, “I am blessing you,” and right then and there I started to cry. I’m crying right now as I write this because I don’t understand why He does bless me but He does.

In Exodus 33, Moses asks the Lord if he can see Him, and the Lord answers that though no one can see His face and live, He will arrange it so that Moses can see His glory. In verse 19 He says, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” That is from the World English Bible, and many of the translations are similar, some use the words The Lord instead of Yahweh, and some have variations on graciousness and mercy, substituting compassion for graciousness or mercy. In Young’s Literal Translation, we read this, “I cause all my goodness to pass before they face, and have called concerning the name of Jehovah before thee, and favoured him whom I favour, and loved him whom I love.” It’s a bit of a linguistic challenge to read that translation, but it’s well worth it to hear those words favor and love.

People sometimes think that walking with God is a constant sacrifice of all that we want in life. They can think that walking with God is no fun, that there is no joy, that there is only hard work and little rest. But that is not the life that God calls us to – He calls us to abundance and joy and peace and love. Yes, there will be things that we will need to give up – things that are holding us back from joy and light and life. And yes, there will be hard work, but He is right there with us every step of the way, and after a time of struggle, there will be a time of  peace and rest. And through it all there will be times of joy and fun, times of laughter and times of beauty, times of wonder and awe and astonishment at the glory of the Lord, times of warmth and fulfillment when we are surrounded by His love. Walking with God is living life fully, so yes, there will be sorrow and pain and loss and hardship, but after every storm there is always a rainbow, and through every trial His arms carry us through.

Blessings,

Jannie Susan