Every once in a while in my mundane daily routines something special happens. I will have an experience where something in the natural world collides with the supernatural and a great lesson is taught to me through the mundane events of life. I’m sure most of you have had the same kind of thing happen to you at some point in life, just a little experience that makes you question whether an experience is a coincidence or something deeper. Stay with me through the mundane in this experience and I think you will be blessed with the deeper meaning as I was.
This story actually starts at Christmas time last year. I put off ordering my grandchildren presents until the last minute last year so when I did get them ordered I had to pay a lot of extra charges for shipping. I told myself then that I was going to do better next year, I was going to order all my gifts early so that I wouldn’t have to pay extra for shipping. Right after Thanksgiving I went through all my catalogs and circled things I thought my grandchildren would want and took them over to my daughter Amber’s for her approval. She picked the ones she thought Charlie, Tom, and Elizabeth would want and I ordered them. By December third I had received all my packages but one which was a little bath seat for Elizabeth to use in the bathtub. I waited a couple of more weeks and still not package. I contacted the company and they assured me it was sent and that I would have to get a tracking number from Fed Ex. So I went on line and learned to track a package from Fed Ex. The package tracker form showed me that Fed Ex had hired our local post office to deliver the package locally, so I headed to the post office to try to claim my package. My post office is legendary for losing things so I prayed before I left that I would have favor with the clerk and she would help me. I gave her the tracking number and she told me that it wasn’t enough, I would have to go back and find the local tracking number and call them with it and then they could help me. I got back on line and found another number and called the post office with it, and they told me it did not fit in their computer system so I would have to call Fed Ex for another number. I called Fed Ex and was put on hold for twenty minutes, but finally talked with someone who gave me another number. I called the post office again and let the phone ring about thirty times but no one answered. I made another trip to the post office with the new number and they told me it didn’t work either. By this time I had had enough, but felt I must call the company I ordered the gift from to see what their policy was about lost or stolen gifts. I called them and they put me on hold. After thirty minutes of holding, someone came to my door so I hung up. I told myself that was it. I would wait until after Christmas and try again. The next day was Christmas Eve. At 4:30 there was a knock at my door and I opened the door to find a package on the doorstep. It was Elizabeth’s gift! I brought it in and looked at the box, and couldn’t believe it! I had not done anything and here was the gift I needed at the exact time I needed it. God was so good to bless me with this unexpected blessing but there was more to it, and here is where it began to get supernatural…
Only God knew how much of a blessing to me this was. He began to show me the “supernatural meanings.” Most of you who know me well know that I lost a beautiful daughter in a car wreck several years ago and a husband to cancer four years ago on December 21 so Christmas has been a challenge with me for many years. After Vanessa died, instead of facing a lonely Christmas without her, our family began to take trips at Christmas time and we had many wonderful times together. Then four years ago, Charley, my husband died at Christmas time and that was another hard time for all of my family. I seldom talk about the grief because I have been blessed by God in so many ways, I always felt my blessings far outweighed my grief and I still feel that way. However, my grief over losing my daughter and my husband has been intense. I am really not the same person I was before their deaths. In some ways I am better, but it is harder to be spontaneous or have the same level of optimism of life that I had before. Since Charley died we have kept up with trips at Christmas time, but this year was a little different. We went to Dallas for a few days vacation before Christmas and we were spending Christmas here in Corpus for the first time in a long time. So here it was an hour and a half before our first Christmas here without husband and daughter and here arrives this gift right at the right time. What does that say to me? It says if God went to all the trouble to bring this little gift to me on Christmas Eve without my even thinking about it, how much more will he help me with the real problems that I have with grieving at Christmas time over losing my loved ones?
I also see from this little story that I had really done all that I could think of to do to obtain the missing package. I had worked at getting it delivered. I had also worked to alleviate my grief by making new traditions, studying the word of God about grief, going to a grief counselor and anything else I could think of to help me overcome. Another part of the gift process was that I had given up. I had done all I could think of to do. That is when the supernatural began to happen. The deep spiritual truth is that when we give up that is when God begins to move in our behalf. Before the gift showed up at my door, I had gotten exasperated at the process, I wanted to quit. I do this when God tries to teach me things, I want to quit, not persevere. Look back at all the things I tried to do to get my little package. I counted fifteen things I had tried. Do I do this in the spiritual areas of my life? I wish I could say yes. I want better for you. Start to untie your gift today by inviting Jesus Christ in your life and experiencing a personal relationship with him.
I would like to include some scriptures that reinforce this story…
Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock (the door of your heart). If anyone hears my voice(in natural every day life) and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me(you will have a personal relationship).
Romans 5:3, “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
James 1:2, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
James 1:12, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”
2 Peter 1:5, “Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Luke 21:19, “By standing firm you will gain life.”
Ephesians 6:13, “And after you have done everything, to stand…”