A Word of Encouragement from my Father

This feels a bit random, but as I lived it, I thought I'd share it in hopes that it would also encourage you my friends.

Tonight I went to the wake of a sweet friend, who is now home with Jesus.  She lost the battle with cancer, but never lost the focus of her passion and love for Jesus.  She was 75 years young and never have I met someone so positive, so full of thanksgiving and always ready with a kind word of encouragement. 

It was supposed to be just 6-8 p.m. calling hours, but it turned into the most beautiful service I have been to.  People got up and shared, people sang, people preached the goodness of God.  I was so greatly blessed by Tiny's life and by how she touched all of us that gathered to show our love.  I was slightly jealous that I wasn't Jamaican, as at 75 she didn't have one wrinkle on her beautiful peace filled face.

As I sat listening tonight, I was so encouraged to meet so much of my family in Christ.  I met brothers and sisters I may never see again, but share the same Father with me.

As I drove home, I was talking to my Father in heaven.  I was thanking Him for letting me know Tiny for the past year and a half.  For the blessing of meeting a woman like her, a woman who has influenced my life for the Kingdom.  I was telling Him how I will miss her prayer in Bible study, for as we go around the table she always prayed in King James  (and for those of you who don't know, though I most often read the Bible in a more modern translation, I have a great love for the King James Version of the Bible).  We came from different denominations, but are the same family.

As I drove my Knight's car home, I began to thank God that He had my earthly father teach me how to drive a standard car.  I rarely drive one these days, as the bigger vehicles we have moved into don't allow for my preference of standard, but tonight as I reflected on my friend's life He allowed me to shift and clutch all the way home. 

I remembered my father teaching me, I was in a Volkswagen van, it was bright orange.  His way of teaching me wasn't the conventional way, but it worked.  I share it not to shock you, but to get to the next part.  My papa would take me out on to a dirt road with a slight incline.  He'd get out of the car, put me into the drivers seat and would stand directly behind me (well, probably giving himself a few feet of jumping room) and tell me to *balance* (which means; don't stall out the car and DON"T ROLL BACKWARDS)!  It was high pressure to not kill my father.  I laugh now, but then I didn't quite get it.  I will tell you that I learned FAST.  I am not sure if this was because I didn't want to kill my father, or that I just wanted to not have any more driving lessons out on that dirt road. 

Tonight, as I thanked God for my father and for my ability to drive a standard, God told me that He stands behind me just like my father did.  How He pushes me out into areas I am not so confident in. How He puts me on paths that sometimes I am not very experienced at.  But, how He is behind me, His loving hands on my shoulders ready to catch me and push me forward on this path of life He has for me. A path so very different than I ever dared to imagine.

Tears of thanksgiving came down my face as I realized why my Hungarian father, who I adored, had stood behind me as I learned to drive that Volkswagen Bus-it was so my Heavenly Father could tell me tonight that;

 ~He is always standing behind me, and in front of me and beside me...

All ways, always.

Jeremiah 29:11 (The Amplified Bible)

For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.

...(The Message Bible)

I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.