If you haven’t read my post titled “Pink Petunias,” click here to read it and then this post will make a lot more sense.

Tonight I received a phone call from my aunt who said they had just had a very strange visit. When any of my family calls and says something like this, it ALWAYS pertains to my mother. This time was no different.

I mentioned in the previous post that I had sent her a small gift for Christmas. Nothing big, really. Just a bag of lemon drops because they used to be her favorites with a note letting her know I was thinking about her and praying for her. I also mentioned that I had never heard anything from her. That has not changed since the last post…at least not until tonight. Well, indirectly anyway.

My aunt and uncle were at home and thought they heard a noise at their front door. My uncle went to investigate. By the time he reached the door, my mother was leaving their driveway. There, between the screen and interior doors sat the gift….unopened.

Malicious. That’s what it was. She wanted to hurt me. It wasn’t enough to just not open the gift. She wanted me to know that she was rejecting it. This isn’t surprising really. She could be quite mean when I was growing up. I always knew not to cross my mother because she didn’t get mad, she got even.

There is a silver lining in this otherwise dark and dreary cloud, though. Her rejection didn’t touch me today. You see, I had already been dealt the first punch of the ‘ole 1-2 punch earlier in the day. That will have to be a story for another time…perhaps, tomorrow.

But God is ever faithful. He is moving mightily in my life right now. He is calling me to new things, and some of them are starting to come to fruition (yet another story for another day). What this really boils down to is spiritual warfare. Satan is coming at me with both barrels, but when I received the call tonight, God said, “Not this time.” He had insulated my heart. He will be my father AND my mother. I am thankful. Thankful not only that He will fill that void for me, but thankful also that instead of hurt and anger, I feel compassion. My mother is ill, and she is hurting, and for that I am truly sorry. I will continue to pray for her healing, but if that is not God’s will, then at least I can take comfort in the fact that He has her in the palm of His hand, and there WILL be a day when she is completely healed and restored.

Blessings,