Endless Ideas

Posted on July 28, 2018 by Margaret

After having granddaughter Emerald with me for a week, my appreciation for children has had a fresh infusion of delight. The two of us fell into a happy routine of church day camp every morning and beach time every afternoon.

Between those events, we dug out the old craft bin and generated original artwork. We also refreshed our fairy garden in the front yard and arranged plastic animal families on the back deck.

Whenever Emerald said, “Hey, I’ve got a good idea!” I knew a blessing was about to come my way. Parents frequently have too much to do and are flying fast through their days. But grandparents often have the time to say, “Good idea! Let’s try that.”

One evening while I was tidying up my sewing box, Emerald reached for my old pin cushion and said, “MeeMee, can I use this? ‘Cuz I’ve got a good idea!”

I handed her the tomato-shaped ball full of straight pins. Without saying a word, she carefully removed all the pins and put them in a neat pile. Then, while softly singing a variety of songs, she began sticking the pins back into the tomato in what seemed to be random order.

When she finished, however, she turned the pin cushion toward me and said, “Wasn’t this a good idea?” I had to agree. My pin cushion never looked cuter.

I’ve used that tomato since it belonged to Mom many decades back, and never once did I think of making a face with the pins. Leave it to a child…

Sometimes God impresses us in a similar way — but better. And he seems never to do anything the same way twice. After all, look at his measureless originality in creating mankind. Even identical twins aren’t identical people. And because he never runs out of new ideas, he often works on us or leads us in ways we’ve never seen before… and may struggle to understand.

This might be why we sometimes resist what he’s doing. “It doesn’t make sense,” we say. “It just isn’t logical.” But God’s logic stretches so far beyond ours that even if we lived well into our 100’s and had the wisdom of age, we’d never figure him out.

So, when we ask God to guide us in some way, we can skip suggesting how he might do that. Instead we should leave the how-to up to him, while watching for something completely unexpected to happen. And that will most likely be related to our request…

…because when God says, “Hey, I’ve got a good idea!” it’s always a really good one.

“Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.” (Jeremiah 33:3, The Message)

The Way to a Wedding, Conclusion

Posted on June 18, 2018 by Margaret

As Linnea came to terms with the troublesome reality that there was no money for a traditional wedding (yesterday’s post), Nate and I began wondering how and when (or even if) God might inject hope into our sad situation. Weddings cost thousands, and we didn’t even have one thousand to give them.

When Nate asked what a nice-but-not-lavish wedding might cost, I guessed. “Maybe $10,000?”

His face fell, and he said, “Impossible.”

But God has a reputation for accomplishing the impossible… with flare… so we dared to hope for that amount. The day after our tear-filled phone call with Linnea, the three of us connected again. Linnea remembers it this way:

“You called me back and said, ‘We’re hoping to give you $10,000. We don’t have that money right now, and we don’t know where it’s coming from, but we’re believing God will bring it to us for your wedding. So make your budget based on that’.”

News of their engagement began to spread to friends and relatives, and almost immediately God began accomplishing the impossible through loved ones.

Linnea’s grandma, my mother, called and said, “I’m so happy for her! I want to contribute a little something to wedding expenses, and I won’t take ‘no’ for an answer!” She mailed us a check for $1000, and all of a sudden we had a wedding account.

The next week a friend from my prayer group said, “I love to do the flowers for weddings, and I’d be honored if you’d let me do Linnea’s flowers at cost.” I was amazed.

Shortly after that, we opened a note from my Aunt Joyce (left) who lived on the other side of the country, and out fell a check for $1500! An attached Post-it said, “…for your wedding…with love.”

Then my husband received a letter from his bachelor brother who wrote, “I would guess that a wedding can be expensive. I hope the enclosed will help.”

Inside was a check for several thousand dollars! We were astounded. God had done exactly what the song said. He’d made a way where there had been none. But it got even better.

Not only had the Lord sent enough money for a lovely wedding, he’d also provided enough extra to rent five tuxedos for Linnea’s father and four brothers (below), and to buy two bridesmaids gowns for her younger sisters (also below), three gowns for the other bridesmaids, and even a new dress for me.

Linnea and Adam’s wedding turned out to be wonder-full for many reasons, not the least of which was how it strengthened our faith in God. In a most delightful way, he cemented the lesson that if we abandon ourselves to his plans, even when there’s absolutely no way, he can easily make one.

“The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.” (Nahum 1:7)

The Way to a Wedding

Posted on June 17, 2018 by Margaret

At my house we’re putting the finishing touches on plans for a wedding that will take place this August, when Louisa marries Teddy – our third family wedding in 12 months.

Nelson married Ann Sophie last August in Hawaii (right), and Birgitta married Spencer last November in Iowa (below), which adds up to three.

If I count my brother’s son Charlie and his bride Larissa (married in May), my nephew Karl and his Cecilia (also in May), and Tom’s son Ben with his Amy (this July), the family wedding count rises to six – one every other month.

Weddings can be expensive, and it’s a pleasure to watch these “kids” make economical wedding decisions. But there’s one family wedding that takes the cake in the budgeting department.

Our daughter Linnea met Adam (below) when both were serving in Youth With A Mission. Love blossomed, and he presented her with a ring on a snowy winter afternoon in Montana, in 2003.

Both were students there at an intensive YWAM Bible school when Linnea called us to share their big news. We were thrilled, already loving Adam, but we wondered how in the world we’d ever pay for a wedding.

Our family was in the midst of a rapid financial downturn due to some governmental tax law changes that destroyed Nate’s once-thriving business. By then we were struggling to pay our own bills, much less those of a wedding.

On the phone that night when Linnea asked how much we had in our “wedding account,” Nate looked at me and held up his finger and thumb in the sign of a zero.

We told Linnea the truth, that there was no wedding account, and when the conversation ended, both she and I were in tears. I pictured Adam standing with his arm around her, whispering comfort into her misery… and I felt awful.

Our daughter was suffering, too, and we longed to do something about it. She closed that conversation with, “Can we talk about this again tomorrow?”

As soon as we hung up, we began asking God to rescue us. Almost right away he reminded us of a song that says, “God will make a way, when there seems to be no way.” In this case, there really was no way. Though we wanted to believe he could and maybe even would make a way, we sure couldn’t imagine how. But if Linnea was going to have a wedding, it would have to be his doing.